Crystallux
by HalcyonNight
Summary: 'How did he get himself into these kinds of situations' - Carbuncle, a young agent trained in espionage and subterfuge, is forced by the Magic Council into infiltrating the deadly Dark Guild Oracion Seis. Formerly independent, he has to work together with an eclectic group to complete his mission, and ride out the consequences. "Light start, get's heavier* *Accepting OCs*
1. Prologus: Apatite Beginnings

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. That is All.**

**A bit of context to this story: I've just finished the Oracion Seis Arc, and I like it. So I made a Fanfic about it.**

**The pacing may get confusing, but it will start off light and then become progressively darker and serious as time goes on.**

**I hope you like this enough to review - if you do, I may break my schedule and update this first before GHD~ Maybe~**

**Hope you enjoy~**

* * *

How did he get himself into these kinds of situations?

Infiltration may be his specialty, but he knew for a fact that he wasn't so good as to think that he could sneak into Oracion Seis, a dark guild that had managed to maintain its place as one of the key groups in the Balam Alliance, without being completely and utterly destroyed by them. Quite frankly, he found the idea absolutely absurd. Whatever his commanding officer was smoking when he thought that this was a good idea must have been some strong stuff for it to have that much of affect.

Making a mental note to ask about his superior's drug dealer, Carbuncle could only stare in outrage at the nonchalance oozing off of the man's figure. It was almost as if he didn't realise that he may _die_ just from being around them, and he was slightly unnerved by how callously he has been _ordered_ to his inevitable demise.

"Sir, not to be rude, but this has quite possibly got to be the worst idea I have ever heard of in my life." Eyebrow raised, Carbuncle's tone was positively frigid. He was, at this point in time, a sacrifice.

So he may as well be as rude as he wanted to be.

"And to make it even worse, you are asking someone who has to rely on offensive lacrima to do any damage. I may use Crystal Magic, but it isn't really known for its offensive purposes, is it now?" With evident disdain, Carbuncle's anger was reaching a fever pitch.

"And that's what makes you perfect for the job!" Exuberant as always, his commander cheered, so much so that Carbuncle could almost hear the exclamation point at the end of the sentence.

"…How?" Stunned once more, Carbuncle failed to see the logic behind the elder male's reasoning. "How in the name of all that is good in the world does that make any sense?" Saying he was far from understanding the reasoning behind it would be an understatement - the biggest of the century.

Crystal Magic at its very core was a defensive-auxiliary type. All it was able to do was protect the castor from damage, or buffer others with its plethora of beneficial effects. At what it does it was second to none, as some attacks could even heal others slightly, giving it some considerable weight. Healing was a lost art, after all, and not very many magic types could heal as well as defend.

So why, exactly, he had been chosen to infiltrate something like Oracion Seis had confused him greatly, when the dark guild would most likely prize offensive skills more than any other types.

"Because your Crystal Magic has access to the mental state." His superior shouted this as if it was the greatest finding known to wizard-kind. The excitement was lost on Carbuncle, who failed to see its relevance. Stating as such, he was taken aback by the shock painted over the others features, as if he had just threatened to eat his first-born or something.

"I don't see why you are so shocked; I've been lost ever since you opened your mouth." He felt he didn't have to filter his thoughts around his superior, since he has just been handed an SSS-Rank Mission. It would be his first, and his only it seemed. He would be given more than enough to live happily off for the rest of his life.

"Crystals, like glass, have the ability to diffract light. Our leading researchers have found that you can bend mental probes using a similar technique." Feeling the dawning realisation, Carbuncle could only glare at the other, as it became obvious just what he wanted.

"You want me to use Crystal Magic on my mind, don't you?" Seeing the wince, he was about to take advantage at his superior's show of weakness and tear him a new one, but was stopped by a slip of paper shoved in his face.

"Read that, please." Face returning to the spitting image of innocence, the commanding officer could give even the best actors a run for their money.

Not that Carbuncle could see. He was being blinded by paper after all.

Yanking the paper away from his face, his eyes scanned the penned note, eyes widening as he saw what was printed on the sheet of paper.

**Dear Carbuncle,**

_That's you! _Ignoring the voice of his subconscious, he continued reading, curious as to who had written him a personal note.

**In light of your recent exploits in infiltrating the dark guild Hag's Nose **_(How cute, they actually took note of our achievements – let's get them a Christmas card) _**we have decided to give you an opportunity to become a commander, just like your superior Celeste **_(No wonder he didn't give me his name, and just told him to call him superior…) _**but in order to do so you must infiltrate the dark guild Oracion Seis and gather as much information as possible. **

**If possible, it would also help your chances if you neutralise members of their guild **(_lolno not gonna happen) _**and try and give them as many weaknesses as possible. **

**With Regards,**

**Siegrain, member of the Ten Wizarding Saints.**

Eying the newly named Celeste, whose face was glowing red from the impromptu reveal of his name, he sighed – resigned to his fate. After all, he was commanded by a member of the magic council and one of the Ten Wizarding Saints – it was impossible for him to back out when they had the weight of such a powerful being pressuring them.

"So, is there anything you need to give me before I go?" He was feeling slightly scared now, as the anger had faded away and there was nothing left for him to do but face the truth.

"The spell. And a few other things that I have the feeling you may like." Smiling ruefully, Carbuncle stood up, accepting the offered tome with shaking hands, almost dropping it.

"I guess this will be the final time that I will see this place then…" Grimacing, his eyes absorbed the vanilla-painted walls, painted so falsely in order to make the inhabitants feel more at home and at ease. A large window in front of him overlooked the central courtyard, giving the occupants a clear view of the many statues of important figures in the magical world that rested in the green square below. The room wasn't professional at all, and Carbuncle always loathed the fact that he was attached to it – he spent almost as much time in the debrief room than he did in his own home.

The desk was littered with papers, and the room was that cosy mix of tidy-untidy that made it look a lot less professional then it actually was.

"The spells, and a few others, are in that tome. No matter what, do not show them that book – you have to pretend that the mental barrier is natural. If they see that, then they will know that you are lying." With that said, the room fell into an uncomfortable silence, the staccato _tick-tock _of the clock on the wall being the only thing rude enough to break it. The silence spoke volumes, and Carbuncle knew it was time to leave.

_It's not even raining either… _Trying to make himself feel better, he joked to himself. And it really wasn't raining, it was sunny and happy and he could have sworn there was a rainbow in the distance. Not at all like it was supposed to be in those clichéd books, with it being raining or there being a thunder-storm when ever something bad happened.

"Guess like I'm off then. If I come back, I'll hand in my form of resignation." Grinning weakly, he was halfway out of the door before being called back by a teary Celeste, who was waving around an image lacrima like a mad-man.

"At least get your picture taken – and at least smile for it. After all, this may be the last time I see you." Startled, he turned back and re-entered, staring bemusedly at the grinning mad-man who was wielding the image lacrima like a weapon.

The image lacrima was an old thing that had to be charged hourly, and you could tell just how ancient it was just by looking at it. It looked on the verge of breaking, the lacrima oozing an acrid poisonous green instead of the vibrant emerald that newer models seemed to have. The rest of the team, when they very rarely see each other, joke about it – saying it's infected.

It had been a while since he had last seen them – maybe a year or so? He forgets, but that may be due to the fact he always gets drunk around the others and it always ends with him having a pounding hangover and shitty memory so bad that he forgets who is.

"Say cheese."

_Sna-crack!_

A loud flash accompanied the ominous cracking sound, smoke oozing from the lacrima as it tried to produce an image. As the glow reached its zenith, the old thing shattered, slivers of it flying everywhere. He had to cover his eyes to protect himself, from both the glow and the lacrima shards, waiting until the glow disappeared before re-opening.

"Well, isn't that just typical!" He just couldn't help himself, scowling at the remains of the blasted thing.

"Calm down. See, it made a picture!" Waving the black image around, splotches of colour spawned, culminating together to make an odd mixture of _blue-black-red-green-yellow. _Becoming more focussed, he could only scowl at how bad the image was - he certainly wasn't photogenic today.

His long, blue hair was in a mess, he had bags under his emerald eyes and he was scowling. His Heart-Kruez shirt was tattered, his jeans were ripped from the lacrima shards, and he was dismayed to find that he could feel blood escaping from a gash on his chest.

Sorcerer's weekly would definitely love this side of him, that's for sure. He'd be number one in a second, knocking Loki from Fairy Tail off his number one spot, and kick Hibiki 'Winzip' Lates out of the competition.

If you couldn't tell, that was sarcasm.

"Can I leave now? You got what you wanted…" All but fleeing out the door, he gave a hasty goodbye before running out the door.

And into the most dangerous mission of his life.

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**_Prologue, Complete~_**

**_As this is the prologue, it's short - I normally try to average 4000+ for main chapters, so that's a thing._**

**_I hope you review~ And I'm accepting Ocs~_**

**_The general template is this~_**

**_Name:_**

**_Age:_**

**_Appearance:_**

**_Magic:_**

**_Magic Strengths:_**

**_Magic Weaknesses:_**

**_Personality:_**

**_Likes:_**

**_Dislikes:_**

**_Past (can be as brief or long as you want~):_**

**_And Misc (which is random things that you want the character to be involved in):_**

**_I hope you put forward your OCs, and say what you like/dislike about the stories~_**

**_Until then,_**

**_HalcyonNight~_**

**_Edit: Minor touch ups here and there._**


	2. Primitus: Crystallux Rises

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Fairy Tail. If I did, Lucy would be able to summon Death to wipe people out**

**IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ THE A/N AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STORY, AS IT HAS SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION. THANK YOU.**

**I HOPE YOU ENJOY :D**

**AND MERRY/HAPPY CHRISTMAS YOU GUYS :D**

* * *

No seriously, how did he get himself into these kinds of situations?

It had been a week since he'd been given his mission, and it had been…exciting? Sure, he'll go with that. It hadn't felt that exhilarating, but he couldn't put the feelings into words. If there was a word to describe '_oh-god-oh-god-oh-god-oh-god-HELP-ME'_, that would've been it. Regardless of his questionable mental state, he at least had some information to work with, even if the events associated with the actual data gathering…were less than stellar, to say the least.

His travels had taken him through the hustle-and-bustle of Magnolia Town, where he was nearly assaulted by a crimson haired woman who was raving about cake. Through the slightly scary Oak Town, where he was mistaken for a 'rain-woman' by a raving lunatic with a freaky moustache. Even through Crocus, the City of Kings, where he stocked up on some more cubic zirconium, although he had the curious experience of meeting up with a blue-haired child.

Ironically, it's the only crystal he couldn't create, due to it being synthetic and all, but it was certainly useful. Oh so _useful_. As it was essentially glass, it was useful in a pinch, and he has learnt to be flexible when it came to actually cutting people with it.

He loved being able to glass the sick freaks that make up some of the Dark Guilds out there – he has been forced to infiltrate some vile, corrupt places that had almost made him lose hope in humanity, but he managed to get by. Even if it did leave a lasting effect on his personality.

But his hard work had all been in preparation for this day.

From what he has gathered, not just one, but two Oracion Seis members make Alexandria their hunting grounds. This was going to be his one chance to get involved with the group, and he couldn't mess this up. If he did, then who knows what may happen.

So sat here, at the very back of a curious pub off the back-end of one of the main streets, Carbuncle made his temporary lair. He had planning to do, after all, and it didn't hurt to get some more information whilst he was at it. The patrons of the Alexandria Inn were not exactly the most honourable type of people, and they seemed to know a rather unusual amount about Dark Guilds and the ilk.

He had only been here for an hour, and he had managed to gather information on two notable Dark Guilds – Naked Mummy and Eisenwald. Not that this information was particularly useful, considering he wanted information about Oracion Seis, but at least it's a start. That and he may need the information someday, whilst on a mission he may need to use it.

_So…what to do?_ He honestly didn't know where to go from here. There were two different possible avenues he could go down, dependent on which member he wanted to take advantage of.

He could take advantage of Hoteye, a rather strange looking man, and his love of money through his Crystal Magic, but the idea behind it is flawed. Carbuncle wasn't to the level that he could make authentic jewels yet, and he was certain that they would find out sooner rather than later that they have been sold counterfeit crystals. Though he could just risk it, but that would put him in harm's way unnecessarily, and in his line of work it was better to be overly cautious than dead.

And secondly, he could go down the path of Angel, a girl/woman (he honestly didn't know her age, just that she had little-to-no common sense for walking around in that outfit) that used Celestial Magic. She may be callous, but she definitely knew her stuff, if he were to believe the stories. He could try and woo her in the style of the Trimens, something he was fundamentally opposed to doing. The style of the Trimens didn't particularly fit his own, and after the whole 'Karen Lilica Incident' he'd rather not have them brought up. So that ruled out that plan, as he just wouldn't be able to keep that act up and running.

_Though I definitely wouldn't mind keeping that up and running._ His eyes caught the sight of a motorbike outside, and as he did so it gave him an idea.

What if he made them come to him?

_Bingo! _

Cringing at the fact that, even mentally, he said something as cheesy as 'bingo', he was given an idea. Creating a block of sanguine crystal discreetly, he engraved what his plan was into the reflective surface, smirking in glee as it all came together.

This was by far one of his most intricate plans, and as a result probably one of his most favourite. He didn't, per se, have to contact them – why should he when it would have the very same effect if they came to find him? All he had to do was make him wanted by the two in the city, and then he wouldn't have to take any risks whilst doing so.

But the question is, how? How could he make himself wanted by either member of Oracion Seis?

The only way he saw it happening was if he incorporated both aspects of the plans before, even if he was hesitant to act like Winzip and friends. Tsundere and Snowflake were arguably as worse, as Tsundere made him confused as to how girls like him and Snowflake made him cringe with his saccharine sweet, ridiculously cringe-worthy quotes. All in all, he would have to act like the best of them to get anywhere with Angel – or as it were get here to talk to him.

The only part of this particular plan that he saw would be an issue was Hoteye – he couldn't exactly seduce him as well. To get him interested in his Carbuncle's Crystal Magic, he would have to be in his direct line of sight – something immensely hard to do considering Alexandria's law on magic being used out on the streets.

It may be rough, but Carbuncle was confident in it being a success. He could iron out the kinks during the plan itself to take into account any other bits of information that he comes across.

_What the…wait…how is it two in the morning?_ Eyes widening slightly, he had to double check his watch, before leaving it at that. He finished off his whiskey, the amber substance burning a trail of liquid fire down his throat as it slithered throughout his body.

"Well…one more wouldn't hurt." Grinning mischievously, the blue haired man destroyed his creation, before heading out to the bar and ordering another.

And another.

And another.

And got completely and utterly sloshed, for there was no other word to describe it. He got so drunk that he nearly stripped and got naked. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that, if he did so, then he would be barred. And Drunk Carbuncle needs alcohol.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Now slightly dazed, the first thing that Carbuncle noticed about the man was that he had very pointy teeth. And very pointy hair. And a very pointy chin.

"Sir, did you know that you are very pointy." Stumbling to his feet, the sloshed Carbuncle fell into hysterics, as if he had told the greatest joke in the world.

_Is Pointy Man not amused?_ Pointing the obvious out, his subconscious voice was every bit as annoying as usual, as he could visibly see the maroon (it was maroon right? A quick look up told him that was indeed the case) haired man looking less than impressed at his comparison.

"Why can't I hear you?" Now, this question confused his drunken mind greatly.

"Maybe that's 'cause I'm not talking?" Nodding as if that explained everything, Carbuncle turned to leave, only to be grabbed by Mr Pointy once more. "Hey, whaddya wan'…" His babble was becoming more and more incoherent the more and more he opened his mouth.

"I've never been able to not hear someone before…who are you?" It seemed no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pull his arm out of his grip.

And Carbuncle had only one thing to say to that, as to his addled mind it all made sense now – why he was talking to him, getting so physical, being forward…

"Are you coming onto me?" Eyes narrowed, he was about to show this onyx eyed creep just what he thought about that even being a thing, but was pre-empted by the other man.

"…Are you high? And no, no I'm not coming onto you. I'm Cobra, by the way."

_Don't listen to him! He is so totally hitting on you!_ Now Carbuncle really could hear the exclamation points on each of his thoughts.

Wow, he must be really drunk.

"I'm Carbuncle. Wanna get drunk?"

"Sure."

And so Carbuncle got Cobra drunk, and had many misadventures through the town of Alexandria.

* * *

**Alexandria Inn, twelve o'clock.**

"Ughh…my aching head."

Leaning up out of bed, Carbuncle cradled his pounding head, wondering just what happened last night and ruing the day that he thought getting drunk was a good idea. The irritating beeping of the alarm clock was getting on his last nerves, causing him to shatter it with a well-placed spear to its ugly visor.

_Wait when have I been able to do that?_ Staring at his arm in abject confusion, he tried to revert his arm back to normal, with varying degrees of success. In the end, it looked mostly human, but his middle finger was made of translucent sapphire, which made him laugh despite the pain it caused in his skull.

Rolling out of bed, he had to prepare for the rest of the day. Today was the day he was to catch the interest of Oracion Seis after all.

But first, he needed to find some clothes.

Meandering around the room, it wasn't long before he found his clothes, but just as he found them his attention was caught by a scrap of paper resting innocently on top of his shirt. Biting his lip with dread creeping up his spine, he unfolded the scrap of paper- eyes widening as he read what was printed.

**Yo, Carbuncle!**

**Thanks for the good time, hope to see you around again. Don't really know what else to put on these things, so guess like I'll see you around.**

**See ya, **

**Cobra**

**P.S: My snake says hi.**

The paper fluttered to the ground, falling victim to gravity as Carbuncle tried to figure out what he did last night. From what he could assume from the note, it appeared that he got absolutely sloshed, and hired a male stripper called Cobra. It was the only explanation that made sense, as he wasn't naïve enough to not know what 'snake' said 'hi', or what it meant to have 'a good time'.

And if his 'snake' said 'hi'…

"You were the uke." His entire body did a 180, turning to stare at the young girl that was grinning mischievously in the doorway. She was young, that much was certain, and shouldn't even know anything about that, but she obviously did. She was clad in some form of sundress that accentuated her azure eyes and her powder-blue hair. The youth had pale almost alabaster skin, and a golden anklet was wrapped just slightly above her foot.

The thing he was most focused on however was the shoes. She didn't have any. There is something wrong with the world when a young girl doesn't have shoes.

"I…was the uke? Hey, wait a sec, how are you even in my room?" Slightly unnerved by the young girl, who will be called 'Blue' until he found out her real name, and how she got in his room. Shrugging the craziness off for a little while, he didn't have to wait long for a response, and if he was a lesser man than he was he would have face planted at the sheer audacity at it.

"Well, a really strange person left the door open around an hour ago." She commented lightly, as if she hadn't been waiting around for an hour. "And I'm here to ask you a few questions – I've been tailing you since Crocus." Waltzing inside, 'Blue' kicked the door shut, launching her body onto the bed as if she owned the place.

"Wait – you've been tailing me since Crocus. I don't remember seeing you anywhere, and I even covered my tracks." Seeing the discrepancy in what she was saying, he was starting to think that she was some random stranger that had walked into his room just for the sake of it. "You really aren't making any sense. What would make you think that I would let people track me?" He wasn't seeing it, not at all.

"Well, I didn't do it alone, that's for sure. I had a partner." She mentioned from her place on his bed, whilst she seemed to fiddle impatiently with something in her hand.

"You didn't do it alone? Who else was with you? And really how did you track me?" Finally deciding to get dressed, he was just about done by the time that there was a knock on the door.

"And who's that? Could you get that 'Blue'?" Smoothing out his rumpled shirt, he tried to get his hair into some semblance of a style, a few strands sticking upwards rebelliously whilst he managed to get a majority of it to stay flat.

"Sure, nii-san, and you certainly are asking a lot of questions, aren't you?" Laughing to herself, she bounded over to the door, eyes lighting up as her eyes met those at the door. "OMG, hi Nee-san." She was ecstatic from the sound of it.

Wait, Nee-san? That must be who she came with. But the question is why? Pausing from sorting out his appearance, Carbuncle turned around, coming face to face with…

Face to face with…kind?

That's the only way that his sleep-deprived mind could describe her, _kind_, though the more he looked the more she seemed troubled by something. This 'Nee-san', with her long brunette hair that cascaded down her back and curled lightly at the bottom, alongside her periwinkle eyes, seemed to exude some strange mixture of meekness and confidence. If she was in a guild, he would place her as belonging to Blue Pegasus, due to her looks.

Though at the moment she was tapping her foot on the ground impatiently, as if waiting for something, even if she did manage to look amused whilst doing so.

"Are you done admiring my gorgeous looks yet?" Slightly flirty, she waltzed into the room with an air of faux-superiority that would fool anyone else, but Carbuncle wasn't an expert infiltrator for nothing after all and spotted it from a mile away.

"Nope, I'm slightly confused as to how a sister could let their younger sibling walk around without any shoes. You should be ashamed of yourself." Aggravating smirk in place, Carbuncle was willing to play this game with her, if she wished to. It was a game that he very rarely grew tired of, this game of words.

"W-We aren't actually siblings," She sweatdropped, "– Zimi just calls a person that she likes that, isn't that right, Zimi." Receiving an emphatic nod from the young blue-haired girl, she was prepared to tell him 'I told you so', but stopped when she realised that she was being ignored.

"Hey, quit looking in the mirror when I'm speaking to you!" Getting progressively louder as she went, she was all but shouting by the end of it, enraged by the blue-haired boy's dismissal.

"Oh, I didn't realise you were still here. I apologise." The apology would have meant more if he wasn't still ignoring her presence for the mirror. "So, what is it you want? I'm getting bored of waiting."

She was about to answer, but she stopped – favouring instead to slam the door shut and slap some kind of rune on it. A rune that he was quite familiar with, due to it being a silence ward.

"What do you know about Oracion Seis?" The question came from Zimi.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Don't you know that it is rude to answer a question with a question?" This time it came from the girl whom he has yet to gather the name of.

"Don't you know it's rude to barge into people's rooms without their permission?" He had them there, and they both knew that.

"Ugh, fine! We are here on behalf of Blue Pegasus to aid you in infiltrating Oracion Seis."

Now this was something that surprised Carbuncle. He thought that this mission was supposed to be solo after all, and he now had to factor in the fact that there were two new variables that he hadn't taken into consideration when making his plan.

"Blue Pegasus? Unusual. Normally, they go for more well-known guilds like Fairy Tail for missions like these, I know for a fact that Titania has gone on one of these missions before." He said, leaving out the fact that she once went with him to infiltrate a dark guild. Carbuncle mentally shivered when he remembered how much damage the woman made. Subtlety was certainly lost on her, that's for sure, and he remembered having to donate the city some of his own jewels to pay the reparation fee.

"That's why we were chosen, as we are not as well-known as Fairy Tail but still prestigious enough to have enough weight behind what we do." She explained to him, not leaving anything out. She was told by Master Bob to not act difficult with the agent, as they had been warned about the caustic nature of the teen.

"To be honest I would have preferred to do it alone, but at least there isn't any Elemental Dragon Slayers around." He muttered, cringing at the mention of them.

"Why?" Curious, Zimi leant forward, making sure that she heard everything said by the youth if he did indeed spill.

"I'd rather not say." Clamming up about the subject, the room fell into an uncomfortable silence, as he was unwilling to talk about his fears to people he didn't even know.

"So…Uhh…Should we introduce ourselves?" Thinking fast, Zimi tried to come up with something to break the silence, sighing in relief when it seemed to work. "Carbuncle, you start." Forced to start, he murmured something incomprehensible before beginning in a faux-happy tone.

"Fine, I might as well start. I use Crystal magic." Not even offering an explanation, he waited for the next person to speak up. He waited. He waited some more. He even counted to a minute, and after hearing no reply he couldn't help but turn and stare at the other occupants of the room. "What?" Did he have something on his face or something?

"Aren't you gonna explain a little more about yourself? Like your likes and dislikes? And what your dream is? Things like that." Carbuncle raised his brow as he realised that 'Kind' was the type of woman who would love to hear all about your life story.

"Not to be rude, but I'm pretty sure you ripped that off of Naruto…"

"Be quiet and just answer the questions."

If there was anything that he had learnt in his seventeen years of being on this planet, it was that it was pointless to argue with a girl. It may be a sad truth, but it was a real one and he would just have to accept it.

_The things I do for people…"_Fine, I'll start again then." He couldn't resist sticking his tongue out to the girl, who reciprocated. "Hi, my name is Carbuncle, and I'm seventeen years old. I like being alive, not being dead, and I enjoy living. I hate thoughts of death, being in situations out of my control, and Elemental Dragon Slayers. My dream is to get out of this mission alive, and my crystal magic lets me protect and defend – I don't know any of the offensive skills yet, as that aspect of the magic as a whole is hard to grasp, but I do know one offensive spell, but that's only because I woke up with it known and I can't exactly reverse it." Listing his thoughts out loud, he didn't even deign them a look as he did so, much to the consternation of the girls. But he did lift his middle finger up to show them that he still hadn't grasped the spell.

"There, was that so hard?" 'Kind' said, tone patronising.

"Yes, it was." Ignoring that, an act that she felt would become more and more common the more they get to know each other, 'Kind' moved onto her clichéd introduction whilst Zimi tested Carbuncle's patience by repeatedly prodding him.

"Hi, my name is Jayne Satsuki - I'm also seventeen. I like sweet things, matchmaking, caramel, giant stuffed animals, beaches, cute animals, The Three Cs - which are being cheerful, carefree, and caring - and matchmaking. However, I don't like dark chocolate, loud music, not being in control of a situation, dark mages/guilds, and overly forward boys. My dream is…is…something that I am unwilling to share, and my magic is…light magic. But it isn't very strong, and I only know three magic spells with it, but I'll do my best and…" She trailed off uncertainly, and Carbuncle could tell that she was feeling uncomfortable.

Luckily, Zimi was there to save the day. He would definitely make sure to buy her a pair of shoes for Christmas.

"Welp, I am ten and my name is Zimi – you don't need to know my last name as they so complicate things, don't they Nii-san (Carbuncle, realising it was him whom she was referencing, only nodded emphatically). I like a lot of things, far too many things to list so I won't bother trying. My main dislike is homophobia, and my dream is to crush Oracion Seis, and become a famous mage – maybe even a Wizarding Saint. My magic is copy magic, which allows me to copy images that I've formed a friendship with, and allow me to use their abilities – but only if we are close to magical power, if we aren't then I can't mimic you." Finishing her introduction, she made her new seat Carbuncle's knee, hugging him like she did before much to the elder boy's chagrin.

"With that out of the way – Zimi get off before I throw you out of a window – could we think up a plan? I've got one, but it is only for myself." Carbuncle felt he was being more helpful than he needed to be, as he didn't have to tell them how he was going to get involved with the Dark Guild.

"But what about us? How are we going to get involved in them? I even had my Guild Mark removed so that it wouldn't arouse suspicion." Jayne protested, whilst Zimi just seemed to agree with everything that she was saying.

"Exactly, what about you guys? I don't even know how helpful you'll be, considering the fact that I was told this was a solo-mission…" Carbuncle couldn't find a place for them in his plans, and it threw him for a wrench when he considered just how much of a threat they were to his continued survival.

If Oracion Seis found out about him being a spy, then things for him will be…well…umm…bad, to say the least.

"We could be your team?" Zimi suggested, eyes lighting up as an idea came to her.

"My…team?" Carbuncle may not be stupid, but he didn't see where she was going with this. But if what his instincts are telling him, then screw Celeste's drug dealer – he'd have to get Zimi's. It must be good stuff if it made her come up with what she was thinking.

"You could keep that plan, and when they hire you, you can say that you came with us and we'll be your team. That way we can all be involved, so that we can then come together and crush them from the inside!" Both Zimi and Jayne seemed to share a high five at that, proud of the fact that they could be involved with the mission.

"What! How is that a good idea?" He snarled, incredulous at what was going on right in front of his eyes. "Do you lot even have anything to protect your minds from mind-reading?" He had to ask, as this was over before it even really began.

"Oh that stuff is easy-peasy – I have immunity to it due to the fact that my magic is copy magic. It makes my thoughts all blurry-wurly and nonsensical." She waved it off as if it was nothing, and to her it probably was. It was nothing new to her most likely, as she had probably grown up with her magic influencing her thoughts.

Magic is known to have an effect on the mind, and copy magic's lack of stability must have left an imprint on her psyche that made it almost impossible to read. He knew that his crystal magic has made him callous and over-the-top, as it melded him to fit its form – it is why he is such a good actor, as he can make a performance work. He wasn't even surprised that Jayne had light magic, as she seemed to be a natural social butterfly. But there seemed to be something else below her surface that set him on edge.

"And what about you, Jayne?" Turning to the other in the room, he soon got a swift response.

"My light magic makes it almost impossible for my thoughts to escape my head as it masks them with light. I may not be the strongest in my guild, but that doesn't mean that I am not suitable for the job." Eyebrows furrowed in determination, Jayne wasn't about to be left behind, never again.

Looking between the two others in the room, Carbuncle couldn't help the small smirk spreading across his face.

"So what are we going to be called?" The question came from the youngest of the group.

Then a thought came to Jayne.

"Have any of you heard of the story about Crystallux? Doubtful that you have, so I'll fill you in. It is in essence about a dragon who masqueraded himself as a chandelier in an opera house due to his love of drama." Jayne told the group, easily catching the ear of Zimi, who found it interesting.

"Crystallux hid itself away from the rest of the world, but that didn't stop a young girl from believing in its existence, leaving food out for it every night. Every time she came back in the morning, the food was gone." The focus shifted away from the woman and onto the agent, who was well versed in this particular tale. Not to be outdone, Jayne followed through.

"All was well, until one day bandits attacked the opera house. Everyone inside was injured in some way, some even dead, and just as the young girl was about to die the dragon appeared to fight them off." She fell silent, unsure of the ending to the tale.

"Dragons may be deadly and almost immune to damage, but some bandits knew Dragon Slayer magic. And no matter the strength of a dragon, they will always fall when confronted by a Dragon Slayer." He took a moment to breathe, before finishing the tale off. "And he died, with his lacrima stolen and the girl dead."

"So…what's the relevance of the name?" It was a scary thought when the brainwaves of a ten year-old and a seventeen year old were running parallel.

"Well, we have someone with crystal magic on our team, which represents Crystallux. Someone who has copy magic, which could represent the actors, and we have me, who could represent the lights of the opera house." Even if Zimi seemed to agree, Carbuncle wasn't buying it, but he really couldn't be bothered arguing with the girl.

He still would stick to his motto of never arguing with a girl unless it was necessary. Otherwise things would get heated, and fast.

"So that's our team name then?" Carbuncle looked between the two girls, who both nodded in agreement.

"Guess like its decided – from this day forth we are Team Crystallux." It wasn't as dramatic as I thought it would be, but it is getting there. With his characteristic smirk in place, he stood, gathering his things up before moving out of the room. The rune shattered as soon as his crystal finger came into contact with the rune, making him release a laugh.

"So shall we leave then?" Not even answering the boy, Jayne sped past the boy in the doorway, followed quickly by Zimi who was giggling like mad. "I'll take that as a yes…hey; wait up a second will you?" Finally getting his wits together, he charged after them.

But did he regret making a team with them?

It was debatable. But for now…

He felt it would be good.

* * *

**_Chapter 1, Finish~_**

**_Okay people, just some important news that needs to be taken care of, about OCs and appearances within the story. And a few things that I really should mention now, so I'll get that out of the way._**

**_But before then, QueenKazza was amazing and acted as a Beta for this chapter - she made it infinitely better, as she made the structure so much more fluid~_**

**_Okay, now onto some bad news for some people. Unless you want your character to be more involved with the plot, you can't have ridiculously powerful OCs unless you want me to power them down a little. It's mostly because a trend I've noticed is that good characters all tend to start of weak and then get stronger as time goes by - plus it makes them interesting. So I hope you don't mind if I turn down the strengths of some of them to make them slightly to how I view the story._**

**_If your opposed to this, contact me in a PM and I'm sure we can sort something out. _**

**_Now onto how I am going to be using OCs - the way that I've planned is to bring the characters in gradually, so as to make them not seem pointless. For example, I might bring in one or two characters based on what I see as being possible, which will allow you guys to know about a character and like them, instead of it being chapter one and there being 9 OCs - because some of them are going to be sent to the background, and I don't want that to happen. And order of appearance is based entirely on who gets the OC sent in first, to make it easier on myself lol - it may seem juvenile, but it works._**

**_And to wrap this up, just thought I'll say this: OMG YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING~ 6 REVIEWS, 9 FOLLOWERS AND 3 FAVS - YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME :DD_**

**_So I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you continue to read and review :D_**

**_Signed, HalcyonNight._**

**_(P.S: That guest who sent in those Ocs - could I make it possible so that the shadow mage is slightly weaker, because if he is stronger than Rogue who was a major villain/dragon slayer then it seems a bit strange :/. I hope you can contact me so we can sort something out about it :D.)_**

**_(P.S.S: I hope you all like the cover for the story - It's how I imagined Carbuncle to look, but with green eyes instead :D)_**


	3. Secundus: Crystallux's Gambit

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. If I did, there would be more on the Oracion Seis and we would see more Cobra.**

**Oh yeah, do we ever see them ever again? Because I enjoyed them being a thing - I'm on Episode 67 (Brain gets knocked out o.O) btw, but I don't mind any spoilers when it comes to that question.**

**Warning: This is unbeta'd as my beta is enjoying the holidays. So I'm sorry if there is any mistakes, but I can't proof-read myself as I just barely got this out in time and I have to do some things xD. So sorry in advance~**

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoy, enough for you to read and review. Plus there is an A/N at the bottom too, so check that out.**

* * *

It seemed that, no matter what, Carbuncle was destined for trouble.

Whether it be something infinitesimal, or if it was something completely and utterly catastrophic – it was there. Lurking in each and every corner like a vengeful spectre, he was sure that it was out for blood. His blood, to be precise, for how else would he find himself in this sort of situation?

Here he was. Agent extraordinaire. Trapped in a box.

Granted, this box is pretty strong, but why he allowed himself to be captured by a _ten year old_, emphasis on the fact it was by a _ten year old._ He was seething, surrounded on all sides by _polystyrene _of all things. If it was something like _steel _or _shackles _or even something like _paper_ he wouldn't be so mad, but it was _polystyrene _so he felt completely justified in his anger.

If this wasn't necessary for the plan to work, he would have _shattered _this shoddy little box of cardboard and its damnable _polystyrene_. Whoever came up with the plan should be shot. Repeatedly. In the face.

_It was you who made this… _Slammed out of his mental rant by his insufferable subconscious, Carbuncle could only fume at the injustice of the role life had given him. His plan, whilst seemingly fool proof at the time, had quickly returned to bite him in the ass.

_If only it wasn't necessary…_

They decided to split up into two teams – dubbed team 'Alpha-Sparklez-Yaoi-Shipping-Bonanza', and Team 'Pegasus'. He had the pleasure of being in team 'Alpha-Sparklez-Yaoi-Shipping-Bonanza', with the questionably sane Zimi. Emphasis on the 'questionable'. If he cared more, then he would offer to send her to a psychiatrist, but he couldn't really blame her for being so mad – copycats were often insane.

They had to be in order for them to copy others without losing their minds – one of the reasons he was happy with having Crystal Magic as his base.

_What made me choose to be with Zimi? _He really should have thought about the consequences before he chose the two teams. His train of thought was that they looked somewhat like siblings – they both shared blue hair, and the age gap wasn't that large to make people think otherwise. So they would probably be better off working together, even if he was loath to admit it.

Carbuncle gave his team the task of hunting down Angel, whom was known to love the 'Celestial Archives'. The 'Celestial Archives', centred in Alexandria, had two roles - they acted as the leading knowledge on the Constellations, including that of the Ecliptic Zodiac - but they also acted as an acting troupe, performing plays to show the ancient stories surrounding the Twelve Zodiacs.

Usually you would have to be trained for the role, but through a little bit of _peaceful negotiation, _Carbuncle managed to wrangle them up a few roles. They were found naked in Alexandria Inn days later, unconscious. But that is neither here nor there, what are important are the roles they played.

Zimi had to play the role of Gemini, the Twins. In his opinion, she had it easier, as he had the most questionable role of all. He had to play as Aquarius. Why on Earth they casted a _man _to be _Aquarius, _a _female _Celestial Spirit, was beyond him - but he wasn't a director, so he probably wouldn't understand the thought process that went behind the decision. So he would have to deal with this as it came, and make the role work for him. If he could control water, it would be more authentic, but he had something up his sleeve for that.

"...Aquarius, Aquarius, where art thou?" The woman - who he would assume is supposed to be Scorpio - cried out in a terribly bad Shakespearean dialect, so bad that it would make many-a drama fanatic cringe in agony.

Carbuncle didn't know what to say - he wasn't trained for this - but he had learnt from experience that when in doubt, act as overdramatic as possible and the crowd would love you.

"Scorpio, my love, I have finally found thee. Come, we must elope and run off into the sunset, for there is uneasiness in the air!" Erupting in a fountain of polystyrene, the shards of foamy sponge raining down on the crowd below like a staccato fusillade, Carbuncle made his first appearance in the play, acting as effeminate as possible as he launched himself towards the Scorpio.

'Scorpio', whom he doesn't know the name of, wasn't what he was expecting to be playing the role. She seemed..._cold. _As if she was bemused by the whole debacle going on around her, like she truly didn't belong here. Blonde hair - so long that it trailed down her back, reaching far past her shoulder blades - pale blue eyes that amplified this sense of sheer juxtaposition between her and the outside the world, and an empty smile. Definitely not what he was expecting to see play the role of Scorpio.

"Aquarius, aren't thou cold without thou shirt on? Please, we must go to Virgo to get you a new one." She seemed to be really into it, if her accent was anything to go by. "I must warn thee about Ophiuchus, who gazes upon your splendour and yearns for your touch!"

"Ophiuchus? That squalid...umm...snake? What would he want with my glorious visage?" Pouring some emotion into it, he took the opportunity to face away from Scorpio, allowing him to discreetly scan the crowd. Whilst he couldn't spot Angel just yet, he did see the crowd eating it all up, and decided to amp the drama.

"That, my lady (-he nearly snorted at the surrealism of it-), is obvious. Your beauty surpasses that of all others." Scorpio cried out, early making Carbuncle throw up at just how saccharine sweet it all was. He would never be caught dead being a part of, or even watching, something so damn cheesy.

"Scorpio...thank you, my love." He scanned again. Nothing. Though he did come across a vaguely familiar figure that made him think, oddly enough, pointy.

"Aquarius, it matters not, for I am always there for you." Being dragged close to her, Carbuncle was not amused, as she interrupted him from his attempt at placing the pointy man. "So please do not look away from me…" Despite the passionate words, they were simply meaningless, as there wasn't anything behind them. No force, or passion, or emotion.

"Scorpio…" Not knowing what to say, or what Aquarius would say to something like that, Carbuncle settled for staying silent. He won't be able to say nothing for long, so someone better say something and quick. He didn't have to wait long thankfully, as Zimi rushed onto the stage in her costume, grasping his hand tightly as she panted in faux-exhaustion.

"Quick, Aquarius, you must come with all the haste! Something bad has happened!" Carbuncle didn't know how to feel about being dragged away by a small girl, but he decided to just accept it for the ticket to freedom it was.

He couldn't help but notice the curtains fall, as the announcer walked on stage to announce that the second half will be up later, receiving many boos in response. Not that Carbuncle was surprised - due to the fact that half of it is improvisation, it will end up being a train-wreck. And like all train-wrecks, people could never look away even though they know that they really should

"Nii-san that was a close one." Exhaling heavily, she perked up slightly, before running off without an explanation. Carbuncle could only think '_strange girl'_' before shrugging it off. He will need to learn how to block out the strange mannerisms of the kid, otherwise the team would fall apart out of the 'WTF' moments that would follow them.

"Yo, Carbuncle!" An oddly familiar voice rung out, making Carbuncle freeze in his musings. Only one person has ever said that to him, and it was someone whom he didn't even remember.

The male-stripper, Cobra. Or would that be male prostitute? He always got the two of them mixed up. Even if the difference seems vast, there was a very fine line between being a male-stripper and a male-prostitute.

"...Hey." Hesitantly, Carbuncle turned, despite the fact that he would rather not. The face that he saw was definitely familiar, with it's far too sharp features.

"I didn't know that you were an actor. Fancy meeting you here." Carbuncle could only hope that Cobra wouldn't become a groupie. It would be awkward if a prostitute you hired would become your number one groupie.

"I'm not. I just beat-down one of the other members and took his place." He might as well tell the truth, due to how unbelievable it was it would be doubtful that this 'Cobra' would believe his story.

And yes, he doesn't believe that his name is Cobra at all, it is totally a code-name. After all, Carbuncle wasn't his real name, and it was only a code-name so it was doubtful that something like 'Cobra' was the taller man's name.

"That's cool. Oh yeah, you didn't answer my question last night." Carbuncle suddenly felt uneasy, as if he was prey to a big, bad dragon that was ready to devour him whole.

_Damn, it better not be that I didn't pay him enough. _Carbuncle agreed with his conscience for once, as it would become much more awkward than it already was if he came out in public to ask for his payment. People would think that he is the sort of guy that does drugs or something, and he is a big advocate against drugs - unless they were good ones. Then he was all for them.

"What is it?" Adjusting his outfit, he didn't notice the oncoming hand which clamped shut, trapping his arm in a vice-like grip eerily reminiscent of their first meeting. Nerves on edge, Carbuncle cursed the fact that his costume didn't have pockets, and he couldn't exactly use his Crystal Magic to attack now. The worst he could do was poke Cobra with his crystal finger and that doesn't seem like it would do any good at all.

Without even looking to see if there was anybody following him, Cobra dragged the boy out of the huge doorway that took up half the left-side. They walked a fair distance through the building, Carbuncle trying to make the pair look as inconspicuous as possible, and it didn't take too long for the maroon haired man to come to a stop in a dark, poorly lit hallway.

_Welp, I've heard enough about hentai to know where this is going. At least there aren't tentacles. Or snakes. Or any really scary kink that goes through the minds of perverts. _Carbuncle was seemingly trapped, and there seemed to be no escape - especially since Cobra was blocking the only exit, and he didn't want to attempt to fight him off. He would most likely lose, as he didn't have his lacrima on him at all.

"How am I unable to hear you? I've had to suffer through the company of an irritating freak to find you, so how? How did you evade my hearing?" It was the first time in his life that he has been held up like this, forced against the wall and threatened, and Carbuncle was far from being amused.

"What do you mean 'hear me'? You aren't even making any sense?" Using the wall as leverage, he lifted his leg up, lashing out in a fierce blow that loosened his grip enough for him to fall. "If you made some sense maybe I'll answer your questions."

"Did you just kick me?" He wasn't even winded from the blow, acting almost as if it never happened, and he seemed to be amused at the attempt to escape.

"Yes." Carbuncle all but snarled. "Got a problem with that?"

"Why so serious?"

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that, and then I'll answer your question."

"Is it that you just can't handle my swag?"

"Cobra, you should be ashamed of yourself."

"YOLO"

If Carbuncle had a gun at the moment, then he would shoot himself. Actually, no, scratch that - he would shoot Cobra instead for his stupidity. Then himself, for there would be no other way to have it truly be gone from this world.

"Do you want to know why?" Quickly growing tired of the game, Carbuncle was under the assumption that as soon as he got his answer Cobra would leave, so he wanted to give him an answer as fast as possible. He really needed to get back to garnering the attention of Angel, wherever she may be.

"Yes." The way he said it made it obvious to Carbuncle that he was...annoyed. Very annoyed.

"Fine then, fair enough." The only problem is that he himself didn't know how to answer that. That means that all he could do was make something up. Taking a deep breathe, he prepared himself before continuing.

"Once upon a time, a few mistakes ago, there was a lonely boy in a lonely world, with only his lonesome self to help him. So this lonely boy did what any lonely boy would do (_masturbate? _If he wasn't telling a story he would of face-palmed at his subconscious' stupidity) - he ran, and he has continued to do so for the rest of his life." He could visibly see Cobra getting impatient, so he had to speed up the pacing.

"He hadn't a need for friends, or family or acquaintances - so his magic compensated, locking him in his own little world, just as he liked it. He was cold and callous, but he didn't care. all he needed was his Crystal Magic." Carbuncle was really getting into it, to his very own shock.

"So with that, he shielded himself, so that if he died it wouldn't be that bad. After all, he was going on a journey, and he would need as much help as humanely possible…" Growing quiet towards the end, he couldn't help but realise that all the best lies had an ounce of truth to them.

"What was the point of that? You didn't even explain anything." Cobra deadpanned. Carbuncle had to resist the urge to face-plant, even if his body was prepared for the action.

Scratch that, all the worst lies had bits of truth in them. They should just be one-hundred per cent lies.

"Please, would all performers return to the briefing room? The second half of the performance will be beginning shortly. Please would all performers return to the briefing room? The second half will be beginning shortly. That is all, have a good day." The aggravating announcer had saved him. Carbuncle noted to try and buy him a Christmas card when it was Christmas.

"Welp, that's my cue to leave, if you want to continue this conversation, _catch _me afterwards - I'll definitely have time then." Stepping around the slightly bewildered Cobra, he ran back towards the room he was forcibly dragged out of, aware of the stampeding footsteps that belonged to Cobra following behind.

"What part of 'afterwards' don't you understand?" He had to make a sharp turn to the left to avoid a wall.

"The part where I said you could leave." Cobra did one better, jumping off the wall to give himself a boost.

_What a show-off! _He didn't even resist the urge to stick his tongue out at him.

And so they continued to run, trapped in a never ending game of predator and prey, of cat and mouse and of Cobra and Carbuncle.

A game that Carbuncle was determined to win.

* * *

**Celestial Archives, Two o'clock.**

"How quaint."

Both Cobra and Carbuncle turned their head, staring at the newcomer from their position on the floor. It was Scorpio, and it seemed as if she was out of her performers outfit and instead in an entirely new outfit. Navy blue coveralls, unzipped up till about the waist Carbuncle guessed, and she had her very own style it seemed, with the arms wrapped around her waist.

Granted, he hadn't seen many people try and work coveralls, but it was still individual.

The rest of her outfit consisted of a pink tank top and short, navy-blue boots that seemed to be especially heavy. Let's just say Carbuncle didn't want to be kicked by those at all. The most interesting thing about the girl, however, was the fact that she had some odd gauntlet composed of silver and quartz wrapped around her right arm, and a belt of pewter and amethyst.

It, evidently, was highly suspicious - as both he and Cobra were staring at the piece. Something which must have been obvious, as she quickly hid it away from prying eyes.

"Shouldn't you be in the briefing?" Carbuncle proposed, out of breathe, from his place on the floor. Cobra, who was slightly above him, just watched - curious about the procession.

"One could say the same to you, Aquarius." Realising he was being referred to, Carbuncle lifted an eyebrow as if to say 'touché'. "The name is Blaine - pleasure is mine."

"If we're exchanging pleasantries, the name is Carbuncle." Carbuncle tried to crawl to his feet, but he was still being pinned by the prostitute. "Cobra, I said I'll pay you afterwards, remove yourself from my presence."

"Pay me?" Carbuncle was confused about Cobra's confusion. Wasn't the whole 'I can't hear you' stripper-speech for 'give me the money'? "Why would you pay me?"

Could it be that Carbuncle's deduction was wrong? Oh well, as long as he never found out about it, then he would be sorted.

"I may have my dates wrong, but I'm not too sure that that is entirely legal." If this was an anime, Carbuncle would be seeing a massive sweat drop on the back of the blonde's head.

"I'm certain that everything that Cobra does is illegal…" He may have intended for it to be a joke, but that didn't mean he didn't notice the way Cobra tensed, as if something had surprised him.

"Carbuncle, meet me at the Alexandra Inn later - if you don't turn up I'll kill you." Something must have spooked him for Cobra to just leave like that, after he went through all that trouble to catch Carbuncle.

"OMG Yaoi!" Returning from wherever she had been, Zimi seemed to be especially proud of herself - more so than usual, much to the agent's surprise. She was usually the epitome of pride, but that might be an unfair judgement on his behalf. He has only known her for a day, after all, and not even for all of it.

"I'm sorry, young one, but what is this yaoi that you speak of? If I knew what it was, maybe I could help you find it." Carbuncle was torn between shock and amusement, and the strange sensation it brought about was slightly disorientating. The only way to describe it would be that he feels as if he was a heavily drunk cockroach that was lost.

"Phoebe-"

"It's Blaine."

"Blaine then, you really don't want to know what yaoi is. To be honest I am surprised that you haven't heard of it." Continuing as if he hadn't just messed up her name, Carbuncle tried his best to warn her not to ask, whilst giggling mentally like a psychotic schoolgirl at Zimi's face. She looked as if someone had just threatened to eat her first-born.

"Is Blaine your name? Well then, I'll just have to educate you then." More determined than Carbuncle has ever seen her before, she dragged the other off, but not before throwing a plastic bag at her teammate, who caught it with some amount of trepidation.

They quickly left the hallway, Zimi cackling in a way that left him questioning her sanity, and Blaine looking back in not-quite-fear-but-getting-there-fear. He just waved them goodbye, pitying the odd girl as she was dragged by his friend.

_Wait friend? When have I ever thought of them as friend? _His mind was out of it today, that's for certain. Ignoring himself (an art he'll have mastered by the end of his mission that's for certain), he peered curiously inside the bag, eyes widening as he came across some communication lacrima.

Communication lacrima used a bastardized mixture of Archive Magic (a relatively new branch of magic that was in essence portable Winzip, and was the magic of Hibiki 'Thousand-Dreams/German-Virus/Sexual-Harassment' Lates) and Sound Magic, which quite literally was just noise, and mixed them together. They were supposed to be rare, so how a ten year-old managed to come by a set was beyond him.

Pulling out one of the orange crystal, it wasn't long before it was snatched out of his hand by a pair of ugly blue dwarfs, who were snickering to themselves as if they had the greatest prize in the world.

_H-Have I just been mugged by a pair of ugly smurfs? _

He had to take a moment to appreciate the sheer absurdity, before dashing off in the direction of the dastardly duo. They may be fast, easily widening the distance between the three of them, but that didn't mean that he didn't have something up his sleeve that meant that he would never be able to catch them.

On the contrary, it was the very thing that he needed.

"Crystal Augment: Aquamarine." Gleeful, it felt good to be running in this state once again, and he honestly could care less about if people see. Glittering blue clung to his outfit, aquamarine crystals encasing his body as he dashed after the duo, steadily closing the gap between the two of them.

His 'Crystal Magic: Aquamarine', as the name suggests, encases the users body in aquamarine crystals, enhancing the wielder's body. This in turn increased the user's physical attributes to the point where it almost triples them, so they can easily catch up to whatever they were chasing.

Carbuncle was almost upon them now, and would have caught them too if he wasn't clothes-line'd by a tall, muscular figure. He was ever so grateful for the fact that his spell came with a visor; otherwise all he would feel at the moment is _pain-pain-pain. _And was it just him, or could he hear a hag's cackle?

His headache from before returned, brought back with a vengeance by the sucker-punch. Glaring with such intensity that it made his attacker step back a bit, he was about to show him just how vicious his close-combat could be, but stopped when he noted just who his attacker was.

He bore a startling resemblance to the Celestial Spirit Scorpio, but that couldn't be right. For him to be here, someone with his key must be around.

"Oh? I'm surprised to see that you managed to keep up. Guess like there is more to you than being Aquarius." The secret agent was praying to every celestial deity out there that this girl wasn't a rabid fan. If she was, then there was going to be some serious issues coming his way in the near future.

"And you are?" Taking in the odd girl's features, the first thing he noted was just how bad her sense of fashion was. She looked cruel, and fake, and everything inbetween. Short, silver hair that was cut short, porcelain skin and indigo eyes, she didn't look natural. Her dress, if it could even be called that, was certainly promiscuous - but it held some resemblance to angels.

Though that was questionable at best, as all he had to base that on was the amount of feathers and ruffles that wear on the dress, and the peculiar 'wings' that seemed to be attached at the back.

_Wait...is her hair also supposed to be themed after an angel?_

A few silvery strands seemed to twist in mid-air, mimicking an ersatz copy of a halo. To Carbuncle, it quite frankly looked ridiculous, and she really needed to get herself sorted.

And wow, he was being ridiculously judgmental for their first meeting, but if she was friends with the creepy looking dwarfs and the Scorpio look alike, then there is going to be issues between them.

"We are Scorpio!" Carbuncle couldn't help but start laughing hysterically – he just sounded so happy whilst he was saying it that he couldn't help himself.

"No we aren't Scorpio, you are Scorpio." Carbuncle blinked, and then suddenly there were two of them. "Wait what…"

"It seems your tiny mind can't handle Gemini…pity. Oh well, I'll be taking my leave now, I got what I wanted anyway." She walked way, dismissing her spirits as she did so, before stopping once more.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I should thank you for the pleasure of seeing a drunk Cobra. I've never seen him so drunk before." Cackling like the hag she was, she threw the communication lacrima backwards, the strong piece of crystal almost shattering as it hit the ground in front of Carbuncle.

Scooping it up, he didn't care to check to see if she was gone, being careful with it so that he could use his Crystal Magic to aid the lacrima in its rebuilding process. Once he was done, he could make out that there was four separate contacts – one of which he didn't know.

First, there was Zimi, who surprisingly didn't add a dodgy nickname for herself. Then there was Jayne, whom he would have to text to find out how she was doing. Thirdly, there was Cobra oddly enough - the questionably dressed girl must have put his number in. And then finally, the very person that had tormented him greatly in his quest to appeal to her.

Angel.

He wasn't surprised. It was pretty obvious ever since he first saw her.

Opening the communications button, he sent the texts off, telling them that he had completed his mission. He didn't have to wait long for a reply off of the two – they seemed to be text happy.

**OMG Well done Carbuncle~ I'm so happy that you completed your own side of the plan :D**

**Don't worry; I've got Hoteye's number. I'll tell you all about it when we meet up soon.**

**Umm, I don't suppose that you know why I'm being spammed by messages off of Zimi? All I've gotten for the past fifteen minutes are her talking about adding Blaine to the team, and something about Yaoi.**

**Anyway, hope you got this text – though I doubt you'd know how to read them. You seem to old and grumpy to understand about texts :D**

**I'll catch you soon, there is someone I want you to meet – her name is Eevee, and she's from Fairy Tail**

That one was off of Jayne – unless he was being lied to by his lacrima – and he just responded with a simple 'kk'.

The next one, however, was off of Zimi, and it almost scarred him for life xD

**ERMERGERD. ME AND BLAINE ARE BFFs FOR LIFE *heart***

**And you got Angel? Cooliez – I'll meet you at Alexandria Inn then and you can tell me how it went.**

**And oh yeah I (even though I have been trying to convert Blaine) ship Cobra x Carbuncle. It's my OTP.**

**Lol Me and Blaine will see you in a bit – tata xxx**

…Wow. He had no words for her. He couldn't even think properly after reading that. If there was one thing Zimi was good at, it was being able to make someone speechless.

He was suddenly dreading meeting everyone later.

Spotting a massive 'mail' symbol pop up on the lacrima-screen, he tapped it, coming face to face with a message from Cobra.

**Meet me in the alleyway.**

Guess like Cobra was really a prostitute.

Go figure.

* * *

_**Chapter 2, Fin~**_

_**Guys, important question here (well two, but it adds drama if you think it is only one :D), do you want me to reply to reviews? I'm sure that you have seen stories were they have a review corner, and they answer any questions that you might have. And on the note of questions, if you have any make sure to send me a PM, or post it in your review, and I'll do my best to answer it. If I can't, it'll most likely be because of spoilers, so there is somethings I may not be able to answer.**_

_**And my second question is something different, and details to everyone who writes something. Have you got like a checklist of achievements when you write, like what you hope to accomplish through writing. If you do, I'd like to know about it, but it's completely optional and you don't have to if you don't want to :D**_

_**OMG PEOPLE YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME :D - 14 reviews/12 Follows/7 Faves - I DIDN'T EXPECT THIS~**_

_**(And guest who posted the Char, thank you for being so understanding~ I hope you don't mind too much, and I'm sorry about having to tone the character down)**_

_**SO ANYWAY~ I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you review :D**_

_**Cya next time, HalcyonNight.**_


	4. Tertius: Crystal Mission

**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail does not belong to me. If it did, you would see Cobra act like this :D.**

**Woo, Important Poll introduced at the bottom, which'll be open for a week as I take a week off to revise for my exams. SO CHECK IT OUT:D.**

**Plus, I'll give a list of what OCs have been introduced/mentioned, just to give you guys a heads up on when your OCs will be a thing - but you'll only know if they are in the next chapter if I state it in the Author's Note at the bottom of the chapter~**

**So without further ado, enjoy~**

* * *

It's a sad day when you realise that you've been reduced to waiting in alleyways.

For shady men.

It was almost as if Cobra was trying to make him into a prostitute through association, and Carbuncle swore that when they meet again, the pointy man was getting punched in the face. He had been propositioned twice by dodgy men, who thought that he was a gigolo, because he was lingering in the alleyways like he belonged there.

That and he had been offered some questionable powder by a scary looking individual. He didn't look like he was a drug-addict, did he? If he did then he might seriously consider letting Jayne give him a makeover.

And it's an even sadder day when a guy needs to get a make-over. Though he doubted that he needed to get one, in his own honest opinion he believed that he didn't need it– he was attractive no matter the weather.

Except rain. In the rain he looked like a cobalt-blue fuzz ball with the amount of hair he had. And with the current weather being as it is, it was the look that he has currently got going for him.

He didn't know when _exactly _it started to rain, but if he had to guess then it would be about half an hour ago, potentially more, but his day had been so hectic that he honestly couldn't keep track of what was going on.

Hell, he was still in his Aquarius costume, which didn't even make sense because he was an Aries, and he was absolutely freezing. His bra did little to cover his skin, which was turning an awkward shade of pale-pale-_pale, _so much so that it was edging into the realm of blue, and he couldn't feel his toes any more.

And they were wet too. They were wet _and_ numb – a glorious combination, obviously.

Shivering, indicative of just how freezing the cerulean haired boy was, he hugged the wall tightly, trying to avoid as much of the rain as humanely possible. It worked, just not to the degree he would have wanted, and he was slightly afraid of whatever disease he may get as a result of being this tight to the wall.

_I swear, if he isn't here in the next few minutes someone dies. _Glaring vociferously at a menacing homeless person prowling the back-alleys after some easy prey, he made it very clear not to approach him lest the man wanted to never get back up again.

It worked, just not in the way he had intended, as the man sidled up towards him conspicuously.

_If it is another person enquiring about my 'services' he dies. _

Carbuncle had to give the guy props, however, for approaching someone who could very well kill them. Eying him up, he saw nothing that should set off his alarms, and labelled him off as just any other individual that roamed the streets.

"Hey, bub, got any dosh?" Carbuncle was legitimately surprised – he didn't think people called people 'bub' and that was just a stereotype. "I need it y'know for some 420."

"420? What is that supposed to be" Whilst he may deal with the darker aspects of life, that didn't mean he was up-to-date with the slang they used.

"Mate you don't know what 420 is?" He tried to put his arm around his shoulder, but Carbuncle was not about to let some strange person who most likely had some sort of infection touch him.

Carbuncle had this thing called a 'personal bubble' – something this guy was trying to invade with his presence – and these things called 'standards' when it came to the people he associated himself with.

Shrugging the 'Irritant'- his new name for the guy who just won't take a hint - off, he didn't waste any time before pushing him away, watching in vicious glee as the fool landed in a large puddle.

It may be juvenile humour, but that still didn't mean it didn't make him laugh. He was too vindictive to care about such petty things after all, and he was angry. Angry at waiting for psychotic individuals who think they can hear thoughts. Angry at the rain. To be frank, he was angry about everything at the moment, and he was not about to take anything from a 'nobody' who didn't even matter in the world.

_And he was so hitting on me as well. _Plus he was also hitting on him, with the same old manoeuvre of putting his arm around his shoulder.

Feeling a bizarre sense of De Ja Vu, as if he had once had a similar thought before, he locked it away and focused on the present. He was flopping like a fish (sometimes he had to laugh at his own genius when it came to jokes), and it looked to be the first 'bath' the man had gone through in a very long time. The 'Irritant' looked mad, but he was beyond caring – after all, it wasn't like he was anybody important.

Stumbling to his feet, the sopping wet man sent a glare that promised death, before stumbling away. But not before throwing back a curious warning about a 'Crimson Nail', saying that they will 'get their revenge' for the humiliation of 'one of their best' and for 'him to be afraid' of the 'retribution'.

He wasn't afraid of them, if the 'Irritant' was one of the best they had to offer.

"Kitten has claws, it seems."

"Are you sure you aren't gay?"

Startled, Carbuncle twisted his body around, eying the newcomers with an air of disdain.

Cobra and Angel looked immaculate – they hadn't even been touched by the rain. Though that could be in part due to the woollen umbrella hovering over the two by a soaked through girl, who's sheep like features made her even more drenched as the wool absorbed the liquid like a sponge.

The two of them quickly degenerated into mad arguments, much to Carbuncle's irritation. It was rude to ignore someone who had been waiting for them.

"Are you sure you two aren't married? You certainly argue like a married couple." It was almost painful to force the clichéd phrase out, but it certainly did the job, as they quickly rounded on him, eyes burning in rage.

"Married?" They said it in unison, quickly causing them to return to their petty little argument whilst Carbuncle was left trying to figure out the logistics of what he just said.

After all, how exactly would a marriage between a male prostitute and a (after a quick look, Carbuncle deduced that Angel had the correct get-up for a stripper) stripper work? They would be constantly cheating on each other, and that sort of philandering would make that relationship end faster than it started.

So yeah. Guess like they aren't a married couple. But he still holds true to what he said: Cobra is a male prostitute and Angel is a cheap stripper.

"Whilst this isn't interesting and everything, why exactly did you tell me to come here?" Eyes widening, he almost wasn't able to react in time, as he sprung himself out of the way of a purple tail that had just tried to smash him into a wall.

"What have I told you about watching your tongue?" Carbuncle just barely managed to dodge the behemoth tail, eyes trying to keep up with the extreme-speed that it was travelling at, but that didn't mean he couldn't throw a glare at the pointy man.

_Crystal Magic: Aquamarine._

Non-verbally casting the spell, a familiar set of armour glittered into existence, angry shards jutting out from his body as he welcomed the boost to his abilities.

"Cubellios, poison." Dark miasma oozed from the snake's mouth, and Carbuncle could only stare, stunned at the sheer size of the snake. Large, powerful wings flared out, the soft, barely inaudible _pitter-patter _of the rain bouncing of the titan's vivid amethystine scales as it aimed to kill.

It was almost as if they wanted him dead. That and he didn't know Cobra had a Pokémon - that knew a move called 'Poison'.

Flipping out the way of a ray of purple sludge, he could only sigh in relief as he watched the caustic substance eat away the ground that it landed on. It was now more than ever that he cursed himself for not knowing any damaging spells.

It was a race against time, and if he was going to survive he needed to act – and fast. Ignoring the rain obscuring his vision, he fumbled around for his lacrima, grinning proudly as his hand gripped the rough crystal tightly.

Now all he had to do was find the right moment to strike.

_There! _Trusting in his instincts, he began his counter-attack.

"Crystal Magic: Ruby Flare." Enunciating the spell correctly, he smirked in satisfaction as a bright light emerged from his forehead, searing the winged-snake's eyes. And that of the two criminals who were spectating, as they were not prepared for the bright light either.

"Fly!" Throwing the lacrima like a shuriken, the crystalline substance shattered above the snake's head, releasing a large explosion as it did so. Covering his eyes from the fierce explosion, and from any debris that may have been kicked up as a result, he wasn't prepared for the sight that met him.

_You have got to be kidding me! _Far from amused, he straightened himself out, trying to erase the damnable wool shield that protected the snake from the explosion.

"…What in the name of ZEREF DO YOU CALL THAT?" Panting, Carbuncle stomped his way towards the two, the aquamarine crystals falling off his body as the magic gluing them together faded away. "How was that a smart idea?"

"We had to make sure that you were the same guy." Nonchalant, Cobra smirked down at the Crystal Mage, whilst Angel tittered to herself. "And if you weren't, Cubellios would have killed you."

"Wait, are you saying that I could have died there?" Slightly stunned over how callous the two mages are, he had to remember that they were indeed Dark Mages.

And as Dark Mages, they could kill others without batting an eye – something that he had almost forgot.

"So what do you know about Oracion Seis?" He started it off casually enough, and if Carbuncle didn't know better he would assume that it was just another pick-up line.

"Oracion Seis? What's that?"

_Act like an idiot, act like an idiot act like an idiot act like an idiot act like a –_

"We know you know. Your little friend, Jade was it? She isn't the best at keeping secrets. Hoteye found out that you and your little gang of munchkins know about us." Eying the approaching Angel, Carbuncle cringed at her mere presence, not even bothering to hide his disdain for her.

"…I'm sorry, what did you call us? Munchkins? I'm sorry, but what? Are you trying to be insulting, because the only thing insulting at this moment in time is your dress-sense?" He couldn't help it, it just slipped out.

He had forgotten that it was his mission to get on her good side, not on her bad.

Oops.

"N-Not that your dress-sense is bad – just that my poor eyes cannot handle its…amazing-ness?"

_Nailed it._ She seemed somewhat placated; though from her glacial gaze it was obvious she was sore over it. He didn't see why she was so annoyed, considering there were more serious things he could have said.

Like, he could have called her an ugly smurf, or say that her dress looks like it was made from the remains of Furbies, or say that she looked like a wannabe Cruella De Vil.

See. He was being nice by calling her dress insulting. The things he sacrifices for people – even if they were evil.

"Ughh, I'm going – you can give him the missions!" Swanning off, she dragged the pink-haired sheep-girl away as well, leaving the two of them alone.

"Well I wonder who pissed in her Cheerios today" Flicking an errant strand of wet hair out of his face, it took him a minute to realise what she had said before. "What did Jayne tell you about us?"

"It was Bear Grylls" Throwing a confused glance at the taller man, Carbuncle wondered who this 'Bear Grylls' man was, and what relevance he had to the conversation. "And she just mentioned you guys, nothing for you to be worried about."

Whilst Carbuncle made no outward sign of relief, internally he was having an absolute party over the news.

"Well, she is right about that – we are interested in the group. We hope to join it, after all."

Feigning ignorance, he sighed, before nudging the maroon haired man into action. "Come on, we should go inside now."

"Come, Cubellios." The titanic snake hissed, before slithering along the soaking ground towards the duo. "And I have to give you your missions."

Nodding, the duo (and Cubellios, oddly enough) didn't have to walk far to get inside, where the agent quickly took note of his group at the back. Winking at Jayne, who gave an almost imperceptible nod back, he left it to her to sort out the kids and to make sure that they didn't break anything.

"You know what's odd?"

"What?"

"Nobody noticed my massive snake."

"…Cute Cobra. Real Cute."

"Seriously. It's bigger than twelve inches."

"Cobra, you aren't even drunk yet and you're acting like an idiot."

And so Cobra and Carbuncle got drunk. Again. In the exact same spot whilst served by the exact same bartender.

It was almost as if it was destiny.

"…I can't hear you…"

"Shut up Cobra and drink your alcohol."

* * *

"…So who do you think will be the top then?"

"Oh my God I don't even know, but I think the tall one."

"You are so right!"

"It works right? Carbuncle x Cobra OTP?"

"Defo!"

Now Carbuncle suddenly remembered why he was afraid of meeting up with them. Thankfully he was still sober, as Cobra had long since left with his 'gigantic snake' – most likely to pick up some clients for his rent – but that meant that he would have to go through one of the hardest events of his life.

Surviving a Team Crystallux meeting.

Or more specifically surviving the insanity.

Taking his spot next to Jayne, who gave an exuberant greeting that he returned with a nod, he eyed the only member that he hadn't seen. Eevee.

The first thing to note was that she is small, very small, and if he had to guess her height it would be around five foot one. Similarly to Jayne, she has long, dark brown hair, though hers is up in a high ponytail with bangs that reach just past her eyebrows, and dark chocolate eyes that are framed behind a pair of plastic-framed glasses.

She seemed _earth-y_, if that was an adjective. This effect was only amplified by her brown-sleeved shirt and maroon V-neck, and with her schoolgirl black shoes and white socks.

All in all, she had this aura of _earthy innocence _that was curious, to say the least.

But he was indeed interested in the jade pendant – there seemed to be some history behind the piece of jewellery that set his Crystal Magic on edge.

"You are?" Lounging backwards on his seat, Carbuncle relished the comfort it provided his tired muscles.

"…I'm Eevee. Pleasure to meet you." She was smiling nervously. Carbuncle pitied the girl, as it seemed as if she didn't know how to go about introducing herself.

"The name's Carbuncle – pleasure's all mine." She seemed to relax at that, as if she was happy that she hadn't made some grievous mistake in introducing herself.

"Come on Eevee – don't be shy. Tell him about what sort of magic you do." Encouraging the girl to speak more, she slipped the agent a look that said 'don't embarrass her', something which he wasn't planning on doing anyway.

"So why are you still in costume?" The _cold_ one (Blaine, his brain supplied) said, small smirk engraved on her face as she did so. "I didn't realise that such things were the fashion – I'll have to take notes."

It seemed as if the confused stare on his face was obvious, as Zimi quickly jumped into the conversation.

"Oh don't worry about her – that's just Blaine." She sing-songed. "When I told her about Yaoi she started to talk about 'culture' and how 'everything was so new'" She waved it off as it just being her, but it seemed as if it was a bit of an abstract personality trait for this day and age.

"So is it true?" This time it was from Jayne, who had unsuccessfully tried to get Eevee to open up.

"Is what true?"

"Is what true?"

Sharply turning their gaze upwards, all conversation on the table dropped, as they all met eyes with the interloper. For Carbuncle, it was like looking in the mirror – the copycat even managed to get his voice down correctly. He was the exact same size, the exact same shape _the exact same everything_. He had the same long, aqua-blue hair, the same emerald eyes and even the same clothes. He was impressed.

But it was far too easy to spot it was a fake. He didn't have the magic fin-

Sorry, _crystal finger._

"I commend you on your technique. Maybe try looking at their hands next time." Carbuncle graced the mirror-image with a victorious smirk, which he mimicked before returning to his true form.

Short, metallic white blue hair framed his face in an 'M' shape, for Carbuncle himself didn't quite know the hair-style and that was simply the only way he could describe it. Green eyes, much darker than his own, gave of this aura of oppression and aggression that was similar but not quite up to standard just yet. His clothes were what the teens would call _edgy _– his ensemble consisted of a long sleeved white shirt, black pants and a black leather jacket.

In other words, he was teenage angst wrapped up in an angst-y ball. He was a teenage boy (by the looks of it, and if he was being presumptuous he looked around fifteen or sixteen), and to Carbuncle all boys were the same.

"The name is Arrow." With that said, he just took a seat next to Zimi, who gave him an incredulous look – as if asking 'who on earth are you?'

"…Why exactly are you sitting here?" Jayne demanded, hands on hips. "Can't you see we are having a conversation here?"

"Ditto." Ferocious glare on her face, Zimi rounded on him as well whilst the other two just stayed silent.

"…There are less of you here." Short and simple, he got straight to the point, falling back to his silence.

"There'll be none of us here in a minute." Gathering their stuff together, the new team Crystallux stood to leave, heading in an orderly fashion towards the stairs off to the side.

Leaving Arrow by himself. Alone.

"Don't you feel bad about leaving him alone?" Eevee said, poking her thumbs together nervously. "I mean, don't you think he's sad about being alone?"

"Eevee, he is a teenage boy, half the time they want to be alone, and the other half of the time they're angry people." Carbuncle was about to protest, but fell short. He was much the same – he would rather not have this 'Team Crystallux' be together, proving Jayne's point exactly.

After all, he was seventeen – so he still counted as a teenage boy.

"And to be honest, we are dealing with very sensitive information here." At this, Blaine's eyes widened, as if she was going to say something, but stopped herself. But she seemed giddy for some reason, as if some amazing piece of information has just become new knowledge for her.

She wasn't the only one – the 'rock' behind her seemed to be interested too.

"Sensitive information?"

"Sensitive information?"

Carbuncle was ready to stab the teenager – as soon as he figured out which one was the real Blaine, and which one was 'Arrow'.

Luckily, Zimi was on top form, splitting the two of them up instantly.

"Blaine! Yaoi!"

One of them paled, whilst the other twisted her head out to the side and spouted this:

"Yaoi, also known as Boys' Love, is a Japanese popular term for female-oriented fictional media that focus on homoerotic or homo-romantic male sexual relationships, usually created by female authors. As Yaoi works depict sexual relationships between males, the genre attracts an androphilic male audience as well; however, manga aimed at a gay male audience is considered a separate genre. The genre also attracts lesbian, bisexual and questioning female readers, and several prominent Yaoi authors are lesbian." She took a deep breathe at that, to get herself ready to finish off the lecture.

"The main characters in Yaoi usually conform to the formula of the seme that pursues the uke Material classified as Yaoi typically depicts erotic gay relationships between attractive male characters. Although the Yaoi genre is also called Boys' Love (commonly abbreviated as BL), the males featured are pubescent or older." She seemed immensely proud of reciting the definition, whilst Zimi was wiping a tear out of her eye from pride at her young pupil.

Carbuncle was simply too stunned to do anything otherwise, as he tried to digest learning more about Yaoi then he had ever wanted to before in his life. 'Arrow' (which Carbuncle knows for a fact is a fake name – like 'Cobra' or 'Angel') was in a similar position, having returned to his previous form.

"Look, Arrow, could you please leave us? We don't know you, and you don't know us – so could you please leave us alone whilst we are trying to figure this out?" Jayne implored the young boy, just daring him to make the wrong move and stick around.

"…Fine." Moving away, he was about to descend the staircase, but was stopped by Eevee.

"Do you want some company?" She may be shy, but he looked like he needed some company.

"No thanks, I can tell when I am not wanted." Descending the stairs, they waited until they could no longer hear his footsteps behind the din of the people, before turning around and heading inside the room Carbuncle had bought out for his stay in the city.

"…He really does know how to guilt trip people." Smug, Carbuncle was about to slap a silence rune on the door, before he was interrupted by the two he hadn't really truly met yet.

"We should also leave as well, since we ourselves have no real purpose to be here other than curiosity." Blaine, being a voice of reason, shepherded Eevee past Carbuncle – to his displeasure. "Just tell us what you are going to do later, okay." With that said and done, they too faded from view.

"…Considering everyone else is leaving, just text me in a bit – I want to talk to Blaine about something." Now Carbuncle was truly scared – though not for himself but for Blaine. He didn't want her to be scarred even more so than she already has been by the insane child.

"If that is what you truly want." Moving to the side, he let the girl run free, hopefully to disappear for a while.

And then there were two.

"So are we gonna plan then?" Jayne quipped, sitting criss-crossed on the bed whilst Carbuncle rifled around for the sheets of paper he was given. Pulling out three, he chucked them onto the mattress, where it was joined by a single sheet thrown on top by Jayne.

"I'm assuming those are the plans then?" Rifling through each of them, she couldn't help but laugh at the strangeness of some of them, and cringe at the sight of some. "Here, read." Shoving a particularly ridiculous request at him, Carbuncle nearly laughed at it.

Who knew that Oracion Seis were so interested in the inner-workings of Dora the Explorer?

Saving that particular request for Zimi if she proved to be annoying, Carbuncle separated the missions into 'easy' and 'hard', realising with a start that some of these requests were far too easy.

Helping an old lady cross the road isn't a mission that will end with death, is it? Or investigating a red nail? Or fighting off rabid fangirls? It seemed as if they were far too easy, and they were only patronising them.

"Aren't these a bit too easy?" Staring at them with disdain, Carbuncle was about to go off on one, before being stopped by Jayne.

"No, they just _look _like that – see, some of them are riddles." Carbuncle figured that what she was saying had to be somewhat true – though investigating Dora the Explorer does not sound as if it is a riddle.

It just sounded like a SSS rank mission. Obviously.

"Well, investigating a 'red nail' seems like it could be investigating the Dark Guild 'Crimson Nail' – I've had some prior experience with them from my time at Blue Pegasus." Circling the 'red nail', she scribbled 'Crimson Nail' above it with a red pen she carried around with her at all times.

Nodding in agreement, Carbuncle decided to stay silent whilst she worked, wondering about how the others were doing downstairs socialising. He hoped that Zimi hadn't corrupted Blaine and Eevee _too_ much, and if she had then there will be…

_Stern _words between them, to say the least.

"Done!" Looking at the triumphant girl, he couldn't help but feel a small smirk growing on his face as he took in the sight of her. She just seemed so _happy _and _excited_ that he felt almost guilty about taking her on his mission.

Emphasis on the _almost_ – when has Carbuncle ever been conscious about other people?

"Good – what's the bad news then?" Looking over her shoulder, it seemed that there were three core things to take into account when analysing them.

There was 'Burglary'.

'Subterfuge'.

And 'Murder'.

Knowing that he would be forced to take the murder mission on principle, he snagged it before she was done with it, eliciting a startled 'meep' out of her before escaping the room.

"Separate the rest among yourselves – I'm heading to the train station."

Without waiting for her reply, he headed out through the back entrance of the Inn, but not before hearing an ominous piece of information regarding Fairy Tail.

"Did you hear about Hargeon?" Normally he wouldn't stick around to hear gossip, but when it involved his birth town then he had to listen.

"What happened to it?" _Yea, what happened to it?_

"Salamander destroyed half of it." _Salamander is going to BE destroyed when I see him_

"Omg no way." ..._Did a grown man just say 'omg no way'?_

"Yea he was with some girl as well – who threw a tidal wave at the port as well!" _They both die. Together._

"And that ice-dude was found stripping again." _Gray…when will you learn?_

_"_What about the Lunar and Shadow wizards?" _Alice and Hale?_

_"_Did they blow something up again..." _They are Fairy Tail - it's what they do._

Getting bored of the conversation, he left, heading north towards the train-station.

He had a guild to murder, after all, for their betrayal of Oracion Seis.

"Mother...why is there a man dressed up like that?"

"I'll tell you when you're older."

Scratch that, Cobra dies too.

* * *

**_Chapter 3, Fin~_**

**_Guys, read this cause this is important. I'll be taking a week log break to revise for my exams, but I'll still read your reviews and stuff, which brings me on to my next two announcements._**

**_The first is me being selfish and asking you for help on how to revise properly - like what sort of things work for you._**

**_The second is important, so hear it out (geddit cause this story has Cobra in it? HURR DURR!) - Can you PM/review to me what you want the 'teams' to be? Like what characters you want paired together for the Mission Arc (the next one where we go through all the missions set out by the Oracion Seis members)? If you could that would be amazing._**

**_And as usual, if you are confused by something, just drop me a PM or ask it in a review and I'll get back to you~ _**

**_OH YEAH AND IMPORTANT NOTICE ON THE DRAGON SLAYERS! I'll have to tone them all down to normal, due to the fact that there is 7 Dragon Slayers in the Anime/Manga, and as 7 is an important number I'll have to make them normal mages without the 'Slayer' aspect to them._**

**_If you have any problems with this, just drop me a review and we'll sort something out. I can make some compromises about this sort of thing however, so just talk to me about it~_**

**_So onto the OCs already shown in the story (other than Carbuncle):_**

**_The Lazy Bitch's: Zimi_**

**_QueenKazza's: Jayne_**

**_Hikari-Angel143's: Eevee _**

**_motordog's: Blaine_**

**_Arcobaleno-Lover's: 'Arrow' _**

**_Oc's mentioned:_**

**_Cute-Kawaii-Girl's: Alice + Hale_**

**_Saiyan-Styles': ? - (Hidden to avoid spoilers :D)_**

**_Now that that is done - THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT :D - Your reviews are awesome :D_**

**_So until next time,_**

**_HalcyonNight._**

**_(P.S: I noticed that about the name to Saiyan-Styles, and it isn't a conspiracy. Or is it?)_**


	5. Quartus: Ruby Catalyst

**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is not owned by me. If it was, Blue Pegasus would end up having more business ventures. As shown in this paragraph.**

**AND IM BACK GUYS WITH MY EXAMS DONE! Well, I've got one left but all I have to do is read for that one~**

**Oh yeah there may or may not be the balls of wrecking in this chappie.**

**AND NATSU + LUCY IS INTRODUCED OMGZ! And I hope I have all the characterization done correctly, I don't know if I've managed to catch their characters properly :/**

**So like always, the OC list of introduction will be at the bottom, and I hope you enjoy enough to review~**

* * *

Sometimes, Carbuncle wonders if he had angered a deity in a past life.

Because seriously, any time he thinks it might go wrong, it does go wrong. As evidenced by the massive spectacle occurring right in_ front _of his_ face. _Malevolent glare set in place; he had to resist the urge to hunt down the owner of Heartfilia Konzern and _destroy_ him.

With a_ chair._ To the _face._

Carbuncle didn't understand which genius had the idea - i_t was a _**Cobra**_ standard idea, as he's taken to calling all stupid ideas__** -**_ to ask the Trimens to have a gig here. Why on Earth they decided to hold a concert here, in a train station of all places, was beyond him. Though he wasn't an entrepreneur, or a businessman, and he certainly didn't go to any business specific guilds like 'Love and Lucky', he knew as much as to not holding any music related event somewhere where there were horns.

That was just plain old common sense. But rich people are not exactly known for their common sense, after all.

He was just lucky that they didn't recognise him; otherwise things between them would quickly spiral into a situation that would end with conflict. It was just how they were, and after the Karen Lilica incident they had never been able to see eye-to-eye with the other, as that was just something that they just could not put behind them.

The staccato _pitter-patter-pitter-patter _of the rain had yet to relent, the punishing droplets crashing heavily into the stain-glass windows that were only there to show how wealthy the station was. But he'd got to give them credit. After all, they built a special room just for hosting gigs with soundproof walls from the outside and everything. The ground, a lustrous and shining marble, took a heavy beating from the dancing fangirls, pulsating from the amplified vibrato of the singers on stage.

_Wait a sec - do they have _fanboys_? _

Eyebrow raised, Carbuncle could only stare in disbelief at the amount of male fans that _'The Trimens' _had, considering they were infamous for their womanising ways.

Women tended to call Winzip a 'Hundred Nights' for a reason, you know?

_And that's a thought I really don't need in my brain space, thank you very much._

Cringing both physically and mentally, he was more than thankful now that he had manage to secure this little niche for himself in the corner, out of the general view of the hormonal teens partying.

Which he still couldn't get over. They were in a _train station, _not a _stadium _or an _arena _or_ wherever else _musicians perform at. Apparently those so-called businessmen will do anything for a little extra cash.

Brought out of his musings by the cries of the horde (that's what the crowd has been dubbed now, as they must've not been the sharpest tool in the shed if they like The Trimen's music), Carbuncle was curious enough to pay attention to the performance, before quickly averting his eyes in disgust.

They were serenading a girl with love songs. Just how low could they go?

Snorting, he moved from the relative safety of the doorway and onto the platform, which was completely deserted. Or he would have, if he wasn't stopped by a call for the 'fiery red headed woman' to get away from the 'doorway' and into their 'embrace'.

Oblivious to the envious gazes of the crowd, he was about to leave. Or he _was_, before a tall, incredibly muscular bodyguard (for he didn't know what he was, just that he has the look of a bouncer – and by the looks of his muscles, they are obviously steroid-enhanced) stopped him and gestured him towards the stage.

Oh.

_Oh._

They meant him.

…_What?_ Was the only thought he could think as he was gifted with the sight of the Horde parting, if only reluctantly, for him to head straight for the stage. Leading him directly into the questionable clutches of the male prostitutes beckoning him towards them – and he knew enough about The Trimens to know where this was going.

He had already had one experience with a male prostitute, and he certainly didn't need another one. Hell, he still couldn't even remember what went on last time he was around Cobra, but he could only assume he didn't want another event like that to happen.

But the question that was on his mind was how they thought he of all people was a girl. Yes, he may have long hair, but that doesn't mean you are instantly a girl. Plus, his current disguise didn't make him look like a girl – he was wearing what he assumed normal people wear, a baggy 'Heart-Kreuz' shirt and jeans.

The only variation was the fact that he had red-hair now, as he dyed it to fit in with his disguise. He didn't want to make people link 'Carbuncle' with this persona, which he has yet to name.

Though if he wanted to really make it effective, he'd have to add a classy fake moustache – they are surprisingly effective, especially if they are of high quality.

…He was being completely serious.

Feeling a nudge from behind, Carbuncle threw a ferocious glare at 'Steroids', who didn't even have the decency to look fazed - he just nudged him forward once more. Getting the idea, he purposefully smacked the guy as he walked away, smirking gleefully as he heard the audible groan as his elbow dug deep into the guy's gut.

_Well, might as well get this over with._ Carbuncle was half-way there when he was hit with the most glorious of ideas.

He could _ruin_ them. And get some revenge whilst he was at it.

Maybe this could be a good thing after all. A _very_ good thing.

All but running at the stage, he looked more like a demented crab than a human – if, you know, crabs could run forward. But the semantics really don't matter at the moment; all that matters is the possibility of his long awaited revenge.

Revenge is good. Carbuncle likes revenge. Especially when it involves annoyances like Winzip.

Climbing up on stage, the disguised Carbuncle prepared himself mentally for one of the most glorious moments of his life so far.

"So what's your name – not that I care or anything." Tsundere spoke, facing away from him in an attempt to act alluring.

Carbuncle was too busy trying to understand how he could walk in them tight jeans.

"Oh Em Gee," He certainly hoped that Zimi didn't have her catchphrase copyrighted or anything, because he may or may not _slightly _misuse it in the future, "Like omg like omg-omg-omg-omg-omg-_OMG like ERMAHGERD. _My name is…" Thinking fast, he threw out the first name that he could think of. "…Angel."

_Well, she is a badly dressed stripper, so I'm sure she wouldn't mind being serenaded by the Tri-whores._

"So _Angel, _did it hurt falling from heaven?" Ignoring the disgusting 'aww's and 'ooo's of the crowd, Snowflake's cheesy pick-up lines made Carbuncle's head hurt.

"Like omg yes it did I had like this killer migraine when my head smacked off the escalators I was like gawd get your act together but did they? No they didn't. Because they aren't even alive and it was so depressing because I had fake nails on and I broke one of them and then my stilettos cracked and my nose got broken and my dress was ripped and my boobs were showing and I fell on a dirty old midget who tried to touch me inappropriately..." Spouting all this in the most obnoxious and pretentious voice in the world, he was quickly stopped by Winzip, who was trying to salvage the situation.

"That's…nice? So what song do you want us to sing to you?" Winzip leant over, trying to look seductive. It might have worked.

If the person he was trying to woo was an actual girl.

"Could you sing 'Wrecking Ball' please? I like _so_ want you to wreck me." Carbuncle wanted so badly to clarify that he would love to _wreck them_ by breaking their heads through a wall, but refrained from doing so – all for his revenge.

"I'd wreck you all night long."

"Yeah…Don't get your hopes up." He had almost forgotten how much he hated Hibiki, but then he remembered his personality.

"So before that, how old are you?"

"Don't you know it's rude to ask a lady her age?" Flicking his hair dramatically, he made a great show of spurning Winzip, getting some heckles from the crowd as a result.

His personal favourite had to be that he looked like a 'drugged up squirrel'. That guy- for it _was_ a guy - had to be given an award for originality at the very least.

"How else am I supposed to know if you are legal?" Carbuncle grudgingly realised that Hibiki knew how to take advantage of situations like these, taking the opportunity to deliver a backhanded compliment as he did so.

"Like, you don't even need to know - I have these things called standards." Too bad for Winzip that Carbuncle was better with words - even if he was currently trying to conform to as many female stereotypes as possible.

"So how do I fit these standards of yours, angel?"

"It's Angel: not angel. Rude - learn to, like, capitalise. And I'm sorry, but for you to fit my standards is if for you to not even exist."

"Harsh babe."

"Like don't even call me 'babe' - it makes you sound like a peadophile." They had been talking for too long, and the crowd was getting restless "Don't you have a song to sing?" Diverting their attention to the matter at hand, Carbuncle was happy to see

them get back on track.

Until they started singing, then Carbuncle desperately wanted to return to the pseudo-flirting – all he had to protect himself from the music was his own thoughts.

Blocking the rest of the world out, Carbuncle did what he did best.

Ignore people.

**-(WARNING WRECKING BALL LYRICS + CARBUNCLE'S THOUGHTS ON THEM YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED)-**

"We clawed, we chained our hearts in vain," _Oh god WHY DID I SAY WRECKING BALL?_

"We jumped never asking why," Please_ just jump off a cliff._

"We kissed; I fell under your spell." _I better not have herpes now._

"A love no one could deny," _Why do I feel the need to shout_ _OBJECTION!_

"Don't you ever say I just walked away," _I want to just walk away_

"I will always want you," _I feel the same. If want is now synonymous with_ _burn in a fire, that is._

"I can't live a lie, running for my life," _The irony is killing me right now. Literally._

I will always want you." _That feeling is not-so-mutual._

"I came in like a wrecking ball" _That's what he said?_

"I never hit so hard in love" _Domestic abuse is never a good thing._

"All I wanted was to break your walls" _You destructive bitch_

"All you ever did was wreck me" _I would make a joke but I'm too classy for that._

"Yeah, you, you wreck me" _I'd love to wreck you - just get me a S.E truck_ _to hit you with._

"I put you high up in the sky" _You forced the 'shrooms down my throat_

"And now, you're not coming down," _They must be some good drugs_

"It slowly turned, you let me burn," _BURN THE WITCH!_

"And now, we're ashes on the ground," _WE? I don't remember burning too..._

**-(WRECKING BALL LYRICS OVER NOW CONTINUE)-**

As the crowd started to get more into the song, Carbuncle was steadily becoming more and more ireful, as the music got louder and louder. It was getting to the point where he was hoping someone- _anyone _would come and save him from this torment.

It didn't matter who it was – it could have been_ Cobra_ and he wouldn't have cared.

Though that would only feed the rabid shippers that were a part of his team – he was still confused as to how that particular ship became a thing anyway.

Deciding enough was enough, he discreetly scanned for any exit that he could take advantage of, noting with some dismay that there wasn't any. He could just run off stage, though that would bring far too much attention to him. But at this point he was desperate and annoyed and angry and just didn't particularly care about his public reputation when he was in this disguise.

Because of the whole _disguise _he's got going on at the moment.

Fishing around in his pocket, he nonchalantly plucked out his Lacrima, smirking in satisfaction as he found that he had two messages.

Actually, make that four – he just got two off Zimi and Eevee respectively.

Making a show of lifting the lacrima to his ears, he widened his eyes exaggeratedly.

Gasped audibly.

And turned on the water works.

Running to the left, he launched himself off the stage, running out of the room. The only thing that got in the way was a pair of guards, who quickly fell to a quick kick to the 'special place'. Leaping over the writhing bodies, he graced them with an insufferable smirk that just spoke of how amusing he found their pain to be, before he escaped out the room.

He wasn't followed, oddly enough. They must have been glad to have him out of the way of their performance.

He continued to run, until he made it to the main lobby. Collapsing onto a nearby wooden bench, he got rid of the crocodile tears before grinning in victory, but not before being interrupted by a young kid who had walked over to see how he was.

"Are you okay?" Looking up, the first thing that he noticed about the child was that he was young and dark and _edgy._

But not as dark as 'Arrow', who was the king of edgy. And not as _pointy_ as Cobra, who took the grand prize for making Legolas jealous of his pointy-ness.

In Carbuncle's opinion, the kid looked like he belonged in school, not walking out and about at this time. Geared up in a stereotypical school uniform, he was wearing a navy, almost _dark, _blue blazer engraved with a dragon sigil on the breast. Beneath was a stark white, neatly pressed polo shirt that was fully buttoned. His trousers showed some sign of wear, but over than that it looked like a variation of a school uniform. The tie, a sanguine red, was done up correctly – then he noticed the chains on the belt hoops, and knew he was trying to be trouble. Other than that, he had a red cap covering his messy white hair, and his eyes were a light blue.

All in all, Carbuncle placed him as _kind-of-edgy-but-not-really-and-should-probably-go-back-to-school._

"I'm okay." Not in the mood to talk, Carbuncle tried to get him to go away, though he failed at that.

"That's good," The child, he was around twelve if Carbuncle had to guess, said, before sitting next to him, "what made you sad in the first place?"

"The Trimens." Giving a white lie wouldn't hurt the young boy, he decided.

"Why, what did they do?" The inquisitive boy asked, receiving a monstrous glare in response.

For some strange reason (that he instantly regretted), his temper reached its limit.

"I've just met you. I don't even know you – I don't even know your name. Why in the name of Fiore would I tell you something personal because you asked?" Standing up, he ignored the guilty sensation of lashing out at the kid, and walked away before he hurt the kid's feelings anymore.

"My name is Hale…" Hale shouted.

He didn't get a response, as Carbuncle was long since gone.

Out on the platform, he decided on actually checking his messages now that he was out of public scrutiny. Flipping through the multitude of menus, he peered curiously at their contents. Selecting the first one, he couldn't help but face-palm.

It was off of Cobra.

**I saw you getting chat-up by the Trimens.**

**You should have stabbed them whilst you had the chance. I would have let you charm my snake if you did.**

**I'll get you two acquainted when you get back, then we can go out and torture Naked Mummy.**

Carbuncle didn't even deign that with a response – other than a little text that simply said 'Crimson Nail', 'Ok' and 'You're an Idiot'.

He casually ignored the fact that Cobra knew he was in disguise and why exactly Cobra was in the area

The second text was off Jayne, and was the message that he was most interested in.

**Hi~**

**I saw what mission you picked, and I'm grateful for it – I don't think that I would be able to wipe out an entire guild by myself. Actually I doubt that I would be able to kill anyone at all, so ten million thanks for taking the most unpleasant mission out of the bunch!**

**I told the others what mission you are going on, and most of them were also hesitant to go with you. Zimi wanted to desperately go, but we managed to persuade her to not chase after you by taking… extreme measures. Let's just say that when cosplaying as a yaoi couple, don't force Eevee to be the other pair. **

**But the roleplaying was fun... I wrote the script! :D **

**But that doesn't mean that you'll be alone. We've all decided to try and keep in contact with you, and Blaine said that she'll meet with you at the platform.**

**The other teams are Zimi and myself, and Eevee x Arrow (who are 200% made for each other, by the way.) Though, I did hear some strange information from Eevee that a red-haired girl completely wrecked The Trimens. That, I would've paid good money to see. **

**Anyway, stay safe, if not for us then for the mission.**

**XOXOXO**

Not knowing what to say, other than a simple 'Will do', Carbuncle was slightly stunned by the care that was put in the message. Everyone knew that Jayne was naturally a nice person but having it aimed directly at him was something he'd certainly have to get used to. Knocking himself out of the odd sensation he moved onto Zimi's, though he already feared what it might be.

Though he was curious about the yaoi couple…

**ER. MER. GERD. ME. AND. JAYNE. ARE. INFILTRATING. DORA. THE. EXPLORER. **

**DID YOU KNOW THAT SNIPER NO-SNIPING IS ACTUALLY A MIDDLE AGED MAN GOING THROUGH A MIDLIFE CRISIS? NO? SAME. AND WHO HAS TO CONSOLE HIM? ME.**

**I HATE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW. But lol good luck have fun.**

**Don't have too much Yaoi fun-times with Cobra without recording it~ xx**

Now that was a text that he didn't even bother responding to, and just left it as is. He was most curious about the text from Eevee however.

**Hi Carbuncle,**

**I just wanted to say good luck during your mission, and that I don't mind being teamed with Arrow. And he also says good luck.**

**Hope you stay safe.**

He just replied with a quick 'thnks, u 2', and was about to put his phone away before getting interrupted by another text off of Cobra.

**I knew you were the type who'd love to feel the blood of the weak on your hands. **

**We should get together one time and go man-hunting.**

**Good Luck with your murder, I know you'll love it.**

**Oh yeah and watch out for this guy roaming around trying to murder people.**

Carbuncle could only read in mild disbelief at the text, before realising that Cobra has evolved from a man-prostitute to a sadistic gigolo.

Impressive. Real impressive.

"Pardon me but have you seen a guy with blue hair around here?" Turning rapidly, Carbuncle came face-to-face with a worried looking Blaine, who hadn't recognised him in his disguise. "I'm not used to this, so any help would be good…"

_What does she mean 'Not used to this'?_

"Blaine. It's me. I am Carbuncle."

"No you're not. You do not have blue hair."

"It's magic hair dye."

"How quaint. What is that?"

Why did he feel like this was going to be a very _tiring_ mission?

* * *

"Sorry, pardon me, but we have to sit down."

"…I never realised people were so rude."

"Blaine, we are off to Narcisca. Everyone goes there."

"…Really?"

"Yes Blaine, yes indeed."

Carbuncle frowned, trying in vain to get a seat for the two of them to sit down on, but failing massively. The pair of them had to fight their way to the very back of the carriage before one became available for them to use, and it wasn't even vacant – they had to sit opposite another pair, who didn't look to be in the greatest shape in the world.

The salmon-haired male looked to be in horrific shape, his clothes absolutely tattered showing of his muscles, and he looked as if he could keel over and die at any moment. The blonde looked slightly better, with only a few scrapes on her body and her clothes only slightly ruffled. Though his eyes did catch sight of a few zodiac keys around her waist, curiosity rising when he picked out three of the Ecliptic Zodiac.

They are rare after all, with it being that only twelve exist.

He wasn't surprised that people haven't sat next to them, due to the state they were in – but they had to sit somewhere, and Blaine didn't seem to particularly care about their state so he'll have to suck it up and be a man.

Despite the fact that the pink man looked as if he would keel over and throw up any second now. And the blonde looked as if she wasn't the happiest person in the world with the situation.

"Is it okay if we sit here?" Carbuncle asked, knocking the girl out of whatever reverie she was in. Being given the go ahead, the duo sat down, with Carbuncle being given the window seat.

This may seem like a good thing, but he was in the direct path of the sick one.

That means that he may be covered in sick at any possible moment.

That was bad.

Very bad.

He did not want to be covered in sick. Wait - who _does_ want to be covered in vomit anyway?

"Is he okay?" Blaine asked, and Carbuncle seconded this notion. He didn't want to be seen as a witness to murder. The girl just awkwardly laughed, muttered something nonsensical before replying.

"He…he is okay. Well, I think he is. He supposedly gets like this all the time when he is on public transport." Giggling awkwardly, the blonde seemed to be at a loss as to what to say, the fragmented laughs being punctuated by the occasional 'aye'.

…_Aye?_

Both he and Blaine were caught unaware as a blue cat rose up from behind her, wielding a piece of fish like a blade and floating with a large pair of angel wings.

_Okay, I want to get me one of them bird-cat things. I will call it Fluffy and I will love it always as he will be mine, and we will rule the world with a legion of multi-coloured bird-cats that will strike fear into the hearts of millions._ Ignoring the mini-rant coming from his subconscious, Carbuncle felt slightly lost as to why he wanted one so much. He blamed exposure to Zimi and Jayne's brainwaves.

But, whilst Carbuncle knew that the thing was _cute _(though his masculinity loathed saying it) it didn't remove the question of just _what that thing is._

A sentiment shared by Blaine, who asked the question on both their minds.

"Oh, Happy is an Exceed," Smiling beatifically, the blonde's smile belied some form of _not-quite-innocence, _but something entirely. She seemed _nice._

"An Exceed…I've never heard of them before…how intriguing." Tilting her head to the side, she pulled out a notepad from a tiny bag at her side – he was legitimately surprised that he hadn't noticed it until now. "Please, elaborate." She seemed eager to learn more about the race of winged cats.

Not to say he didn't want to know: just that he did not share the same enthusiasm she did.

"Oh…well…I don't particularly know the details myself. Oh yeah, my name is Lucy, I completely forgot to introduce myself." The newly named Lucy (no surname, which was slightly suspicious to Carbuncle) introduced herself, holding out a hand and a smile to the both of them.

"Pleasure to meet you, Lucy. My name is Alex, Alex Leblanc." Carbuncle introduced himself with a fake name, before introducing his team-mate for her as Blaine seemed far too busy learning everything she could about the cat to do it herself.

"Nice to meet you. Oh yeah, this is Natsu." She gesticulated towards the almost comatose boy, who only grunted in response and muttered a brief 'hello' before going back to bemoaning his own existence.

To Carbuncle, his Crystal Magic felt uneasy around the pink-haired man. It felt as if he was a Slayer of some kind, but that was absurd considering the rarity of the magic.

"So where exactly are you two going?" Reclining backwards, he over-heard about the 'Aera' magic that the flying cat wielded, and was slowly becoming interested in that more than the conversation.

"Well, Natsu and I are making our way towards Narcisca – how about you?" Lucy, growing exasperated by Natsu's moaning, laid his head down on her lap before answering the question.

"Narcisca? Why would you go there? Are you two getting married or something?" Ignoring the sarcastic 'like you and Cobra' from Blaine, he felt that it made sense. In his mind it made sense – the two of them looked like a couple who had been together for a long time, so why wouldn't they go to a town known for being beautiful to have a wedding.

And he may be a man, but even he could tell that they looked _right_ together.

"Me? And Natsu? Getting married?" She seemed to mull over the prospect, despite her outburst at the thought of it. "Wait, where are you going?"

"We are going to Narcisca too; we need to sort some things out there to make our own life easier." Shrugging off the question, he asked a question of his own.

Or would have, if he wasn't interrupted by Natsu's delayed reaction.

"Am I not good enough to be married to you, Luigi?" despite his currently beleaguered state, Natsu exploded at her, inciting her own annoyance as they degenerated into arguments.

But even he could tell they were the type of arguments only friends go through, where they knew the other wouldn't get hurt by what's being said.

He even remembered being called 'a horny squirrel' once and not being insulted by it.

"Luigi I've already been promised to someone you can't marry me."

"Why would I want to marry you anyway? You're the type of guy who'd end up leaving his tighty-whities on the bathroom floor."

"What are tighty-whities?"

"…I forget that you're an idiot sometimes."

"Wait why couldn't we be married? I sleep with you anyway."

It was at that point that Carbuncle realised that he might have been better off standing up.

He felt like a fifth wheel, without anyone to talk to.

Oh well.

He'd be the best damned fifth wheel in the world.

* * *

**_Chapter 5, Fin~_**

**_OMG GUIZ IM BACK I MISSED YOU ALL! I hope this chappie was worth the wait. Normally, I wouldn't put the warnings, but I know how people feel about Miley Cyrus so I broke the rules and put some warnings._**

**_So anyway, here's the OCs so far;_**

_**So onto the OCs already shown in the story (other than Carbuncle):**_

**_The Lazy Bitch's: Zimi_**

**_QueenKazza's: Jayne_**

**_Hikari-Angel143's: Eevee_**

**_motordog's: Blaine_**

**_Arcobaleno-Lover's: 'Arrow'_**

**__****_Cute-Kawaii-Girl's: Hale_**

_**Oc's mentioned:**_

**_Saiyan-Styles': ? - (Hidden to avoid spoilers :D)_**

**_Hollow-Kyuubi's: ? - (Hidden to avoid spoilers)_**

**_Now that that is done - THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT :D - Your reviews are awesome! We are at 28 reviews/ 14 Follows and 9 favourites~ I hope you liked this one enough to continue reviewing~_**

**_So until next time,_**

**_HalcyonNight._**

**_P.S: Remember - Any questions, just drop me a Pm and I'll answer them to the best of my ability - even if it is something as simple as what a word means~_**


	6. Quintus: Ruby Genesis

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. If I did, Lisanna wouldn't have come back but Layla would instead._**

**_Welp guiz, I hope you enjoy this chappie, and please tell me if I am portraying the character wrong - I always think that I'm doing something wrong xD_**

**_Oh well, after posting this I'm going bed - nearly midnight~_**

**_Anyway, I hope you enjoy~_**

* * *

It may not have been a massive shock to Carbuncle when it happened, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he was fine with it.

In fact – he was _furious._

The train had broken down. Now, this sort of an occurrence wouldn't have annoyed him to the point where he was now, but it set off a _long _and _frustrating _chain of events that left him in his current state. So here he was, standing in the middle of nowhere, in a puddle of Natsu's vomit.

Blaine was nowhere to be seen, along with Happy, but that didn't change the fact that he was _drenched _in whatever Natsu had eaten before getting on the train. This, from the smell of it, certainly wasn't very pleasant. And at this very moment in time it was stinging his eyes just from being near him.

So to sum it up, he was _absolutely furious. _He was so furious that there was no over word in any language to describe it.

Which means that he'll have to make one up. Not the hardest thing in the world - whenever he is _this_ angry, he'll be called '_Nangry'._ In commemoration of the person who had managed to make him this irritated – it was a portmanteau of 'Natsu' and 'angry'. He can say that, from this point on, that he was so '_Nangry' _with whatever someone did, and then they would totally know what he was on about.

_Wait, 'Nangry' sounds stupid. So let's not even go there._

Stopping that train of thought before it could spiral out of control, Carbuncle took the time to re-evaluate his life, and try to pinpoint just where his intellect started to plummet. But then stopped when he noticed that it was during _that_ period in his life, and he didn't want to go anywhere _near _that particular time in his life. It was a part of his life that wasn't…_stellar, _to say the least.

_Everything _seemed to link back to Karen Lilica.

And to make this whole situation worse, he didn't have a change of clothes – because he doesn't prepare for the _slim, _borderline_ non-existent _chance that someone would _throw up on him._

Actually, who does? Now _that _would be the better question.

Carbuncle would love to just use his Crystal Magic to give himself a change of clothes, but he really didn't want people to see what type of magic he uses. Just in case he meets up with them whilst he was a part of Oracion Seis, because that would be extremely hard to explain away with a few little words. He would have to make his backstory much more intricate and elaborate – making it more fallible as he is prone to making a mistake somewhere.

Plus who walks around in _crystal _clothing anyway?

_That was so X768 – now it just looks tacky_.

…Now he was getting strange looks from Lucy for laughing for no apparent reason. Just another thing to add onto his long, seemingly endless list of problems, that built up as a result of him taking this mission

He was just glad that his _team _wasn't around for this – he just knew that Zimi and Jayne would have a field day with this, and Eevee would probably try and help but make things worse. Carbuncle was lucky that Blaine was mature enough to take no heed to it.

Though he was doubtful she knew about it in the first place – she was much too interested in floating cats to realise what was happening around her. She probably wouldn't even notice if _Zeref_ himself was raised from the dead, walked up to her, and asked her out. One of these days, he would have to ask her about just what made her like that, but that seemed like a question that was far too personal for him to get away with.

Unless, of course, she was drunk – anyone could get away with asking personal questions if the person they were asking where drunk.

He knows this from experience.

Sadly.

"Are you okay?" Snapping his attention away from his brooding, Carbuncle was startled at just how close Lucy was to him when she said that, instantly causing him to leap out of the way and put some distance between the two of them. This just caused her to stare at him like he was even more of a creep, whilst Natsu was busy shouting praises at _something_ in the background.

Which made him remember just how much he hated Natsu at the moment. Thus, he did what any angry person would do when given the opportunity.

He pushed him. Hard. Off the side of the rocky plateau they were standing on.

He had never felt more _proud_ of himself in his life. Grinning like a mad-man (though he didn't have the box, that much he could assure you), the petrified scream of the salmon-haired boy was like music to his ears – even if he wasn't generally a fan of people who sound as if they have overdosed on helium. Watching the human boulder plummet down into the depths below, he couldn't help but feel as if he went too far.

But then he remembered that this was _Natsu _he was talking about – someone who obliterated almost half of his home town without even trying. If he could do that then he didn't have to worry about him not being able to survive a fall at that height.

Whilst it may have seemed like a good idea to push the other of the side of the cliff, he didn't take into account the blonde bystander.

_How loud can this girl shriek?_

Blocking his ears from the deafening sound originating from the blonde, he could only cringe as she leant over the edge trying to find the fire mage. He was half tempted to kick her off the edge too, but then realised it was far too much effort and there was a good chance that, well…she wouldn't return in the exact same state, to put it lightly.

"Why would you do something like that? He could be dead!" Barrelling down on him, with burning eyes glacial tone, Lucy looked like the very definition of a woman scorned. To be frank, whilst she may be trying to be threatening, she didn't look it – she looked more like a fluffy blonde kitten trying to be a lion. Cute, but definitely not scary, and the absurdity of it made him laugh out loud.

"Doubtful. Have a little trust in him or something – he is from Fairy Tail, after all, so it's not as if this sort of thing hasn't happened to him before." Waving it off, his posture oozed nonchalance, acting as if Carbuncle hadn't just told the girl to stop worrying about her friend being potentially dead in a ditch.

"…How does that make any sense?" She seemed to have had her mind blown, if the twitching eyebrows were anything to go by. It was obvious that she was in awe with his reasoning, as who wouldn't?

_And people say that guys don't understand girls._

Off in his own world, he didn't notice the massive boot heading directly for his head, so it became a shock to him when he realised his feet were no longer on the ground, and that he was currently flying in the exact same direction he had kicked Natsu.

Oddly enough, he can't say that this is the first time this has happened.

Spiralling off the edge of the cliff, he could only accept what happened is happening, and it wasn't as if he couldn't just fly his way back up there through one of his buffs. At the very least he can be more graceful than Natsu in his fall – or at least as graceful as someone can be whilst covered in vomit.

Whilst said vomit was trying its hardest to land on his face.

Just for references sake, Carbuncle figured out quickly enough that, whilst freefalling at however fast he was going, it was extremely hard to dodge aggressive vomit. This factored in with the fact that, until he landed (which will be a pain without the use of his Crystal Magic – both figuratively and literally) he wouldn't be able to use his magic. That made this entire fiasco so heavily _unpleasant._

Feeling the watery substance crawl underneath his top, he had to cover his eyes to protect his vision from both the blistering speeds, and the lukewarm liquid. Squinting through a tiny gap in his hands, he eyed the oncoming tree-line with a feeling half between despair and acceptance, and was barely able to let a choked out expletive before crashing back first onto the first tree branch.

With an almighty _crack _that resonated throughout the forest, he tumbled through the canopy of branches; the sturdy branches that once acted as a buffer were now cushioning his fall. In a shower of leaves and broken branches, he landed in a crumpled heap on the woodland floor. The only wounds he had after taking such a tumble were only superficial, luckily enough, and if anything it was his pride that was wounded.

He had let himself be sent flying by an angry blonde. Another thing he could tick off on his bucket list. .

Crawling to his feet, he certainly felt like he looked like a model. Shards of branches nestled in his hair, cuts decorating his face like a rich tapestry, clothes covered in vomit – he felt as if he had the entire package.

If, you know, the entire package was looking like a homeless person who'd just got in a fight with a tree.

And the homeless person lost. Horrifically.

Picking out the branches and leaves, he was left with a dilemma. He could strip, and just walk around in his Aquamarine spell, or he could just walk in the clothes and pray that there was a spring somewhere where he could clean up his clothes. Both suggestions had their merits and their consequences, but he was leaning towards stripping and walking around in his magic spell. It's not as if it was any different than regular clothes, but it was energy consuming – and he may need the energy for later.

Lamenting his life choices, he stripped off entirely, leaving the soaked and smelling clothes in a pile on the ground. Preparing the magic, he concentrated a moment before releasing it in an all too familiar array.

"Crystal Magic: Aquamarine." Sighing in relief, he felt the immediate drain on his magic immediately before he could physically see the effects. Reflecting and refracting light, pale blue shards seemed to spawn out of nowhere, covering his body in a sea-blue layer of crystal. The slivers of crystal seemed to meld together, forming a layer of armour that mimicked ancient Fiore knights – a heavy set of armour that protected from physical damage.

The only part that was missing from the ensemble was the helmet – though that was not necessary at all for what he wanted. He just wanted to cover up, not go out to war. He'd leave that sort of thing to the other sectors of the R.A.F – he didn't have the strength to fight in any sort of serious battles.

Hence why his tactics are so underhanded – it's the only way he can win.

Scanning the area he found himself in, it was pretty obvious to him that he had no idea where he was – other than, of course, near the immobile ship. A massive rift divided the tree canopy – clear evidence of where he had dropped in, leaves still falling lightly, disturbed by the commotion caused. Everywhere he looked, there were trees. Gargantuan trees that stood sentinel over the earth, protecting it from anything that would seek to corrupt it. Leaves rustling as he walked, his attention was caught by a twitching lump in the ground, rousing his curiosity.

Picking up a stick broken off by his descent, he lightly prodded the lump, stifling a giggle as he stared entranced at the motion.

Prodding again.

And again.

And again.

It was only when the lump started to make muffled groaning sounds that he realised that the _thing_ was alive, and was apoplectic - if a sudden stream of fire had anything to say about it. Barely dodging the eruption of flame, he landed flat on his backside, protecting his eyes with an armoured arm from the flame's intensity.

Feeling the inferno calm down, he removed his arm, gazing nervously at the ireful wizard. He was literally _steaming _mad. He looked as if he was about to set the once azure, but now crimson-haired agent on fire with his eyes alone – and he didn't doubt for a second that he would be able to do such a thing.

_Wait a second…if it is Natsu, and he is angry, does that make him 'Nangry'_

If the situation wasn't so dire for him, Carbuncle really would face-palm at the stupidity. But he didn't because he really didn't want to die by being burnt alive.

The burning fist was so close to hitting him he could feel the heat roil and coil and _lash out_ at him, trying to hit him despite the strike missing. He noticed far too late that the first punch was only a feint, shadowing the second fist that crashed into him, launching him towards a nearby tree.

_He's strong._

Digging his hands deep into the ground, he managed to regain his balance, rolling out of the way of the blow that would of _broke _him in two if it connected. Taking advantage of the powerful jab missing, he dug his armoured foot into the soil as he launched a kick, watching in satisfaction as it caught him in the chest.

Following through with a powerful, yet far too flashy axe-kick, he was punished as his opponent twisted in mid-air, evading the blow and gripping his ankle in a burning vice. Carbuncle was dragged along as the dragon slayer rotated, gaining in speed before firing him into the ground.

Using the force behind the blow, Carbuncle swore he could hear his bones protest as he rocketed off the ground – manipulating the power behind the blow to augment his own retaliation.

Or would have, if he didn't feel himself slowing in mid-air, eyes widening in awe as the world around him seemed to speed up. It was as if the battlers were being weighed down or something, as the rest of the world continued innocently.

"Really, I spend time looking for you, and this is what I find?"

Twisting their heads slowly, they could only stare at the approach of the two girls. Lucy looked far from impressed, staring at them with the sort of tired stare that a mother gives to her misbehaving children. Carbuncle felt slightly ashamed of himself for a second, but that feeling stopped soon enough when he realised that he was most likely older than her. Blaine on the other hand looked like she was concentrating heavily; sweat beading on her forehead as she focussed.

And Happy? Happy was holding the two girls up, panting heavily as he struggled to keep the weight aloft. He had to hand it to him – he really was trying his hardest, and he was pretty strong for a cat.

With a slight crack, the world returned to normal, and anarchy ensued.

Carbuncle and Natsu collided head-first into each-other, soaring towards the ground in a state that would make many-a contortionist green with envy, crash-landing in a heap of limbs and clothes. It was during this time that his defensive armour had worn off, his magic unable to handle the massive drain of magic that occurred as a result of time shifting, causing it to shatter and leave him in nothing but his underwear.

Then they crashed. And, in Carbuncle's honest opinion, it wasn't fun.

"…wow." Despite his _current predicament _it wasn't hard for Carbuncle to hear the slightly stunned Lucy.

"Is this customary?" Recovered, if only a tad, Blaine questioned Lucy, who could only shake her head in a negative.

"I…I don't believe so…" She trailed off, trying to figure out how to answer her, "I don't think that this is…usual?" Despite what she had seen before from Fairy Tail, this was a completely different thing entirely.

Extracting his body from the odd bundle he and Natsu had made, Carbuncle made his way in front of the Celestial Spirit mage, pretending that he was wearing clothes and that this entire situation wasn't happening.

"Pardon me but…I don't suppose you have access to Cassiopeia? I could do with some new clothes." Now that he could think clearly, he asked Lucy if she did indeed have access to such a key. It would be far too convenient for her to have that silver key, but I was doubtful as he hadn't seen its distinct shape on her belt loop.

"Not to my knowledge…sorry." Lucy seemed apologetic, biting her lip nervously as she tried to cheer up the down-hearted boy. "I'm sure Natsu would let you use his spare set of clothes."

_Spare set of clothes?_

Perking up immediately, he immediately cheered up at the prospect of not walking through public in only his boxers.

"Hell no." Crushing his hopes and dreams with just a simple word, the Crystal mage couldn't help but turn on the other.

"What do you mean 'hell no'? It's your fault for throwing up on me in the first place."

"You're like a worse version of the ice stripper."

"You're a slightly less tolerable idiot."

"What's toleral mean?"

"Tolerable genius – and it means how much I can take before crushing your face into the ground."

"Yea well I can't tolerate you! You're so annnnnnoyinnnnng."

"What is with it with people turning to stripping…"

"Stripping?"

"You're wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and a jacket that only covers your arms. You honestly do look like the type of person that doesn't understand what 'clothes' are for."

"Calm down boys, you can have your domestic later." Butting in, Lucy was wearing the same old disappointed stare she had before, whilst Blaine and Happy were just nodding in agreement.

"Pardon me, but what's a 'domestic'?" Slightly awkward, Blaine asked Carbuncle, who could only wonder where she was to not know what a domestic was.

"A domestic is, umm, well…where you have an argument with a marital partner, or a partner of any kind." It was kind of awkward that he had to explain it, especially when Natsu seemed to be leaning in too.

He wasn't surprised he didn't know.

"So you saying me and HIM are married!" Leaning forward angrily, Natsu eyes were squinted in irritation, getting up close and personal with Lucy, who only glared back in a similar fashion. "The only people that will be having a domestic are me and you."

"E-Ehh?" She was blushing furiously, making it obvious to Carbuncle that she wouldn't be too adverse to the idea.

"So I see that is why you are heading to Narcisca?" Mischievous glint in his emerald eyes, Carbuncle teased the two.

"W-What do you mean." They even replied in unison. How _cute_.

"It's obvious that's why you're heading there – you two are getting married." Ignoring the resounding variations of 'ehh' throughout the meadow, he continued with his train of thought.

"Marriage?" Tilting her head to the side, Blaine looked confused as to why it was they would get married there.

"Narcisca is an incredibly beautiful city – even more beautiful than Alexandria. As a result couples go there to have their weddings, due to the aesthetic appeal of the place." He explained to the girl, as she jotted it down on the notebook.

"Sorry about that – I always get sketchy about things like that." Staring into the sleepy blue eye (that was visible); he couldn't tell what was going on in her head.

She was a good actor. No wonder he met her whilst she was being Scorpio.

"No worries," Carbuncle waved the gratitude off, since he didn't particularly mind teaching her things.

It was one of his dream jobs, teaching, and when he retires after his mission he would love to go into the teaching industry.

"Oh yeah Natsu?" Carbuncle turned to Natsu, question painted all over his face.

"Hrnn?" Seeing as that grunt was gonna be the best he's going to get, he reiterated his previous question.

"Clothes?"

"Yes Natsu, clothes."

"It's with Lucy."

"...No it isn't Natsu. I don't have it.

Carbuncle's face paled as he realised that he was well and truly fucked.

* * *

They had finally managed to make it to Narcisca, and -

"Isn't this the bee's knees?"

Pausing both his thoughts and footsteps momentarily, Carbuncle tried to figure out what that meant. But then thought against it and continued walking. He had been doing that a lot lately, ignoring the sort of things she said. Not that he would be able to understand what she said - her language was fragmented, saying things he knows are archaic at one moment, then jumping to things that he has never heard of in the next.

Though such was the life of a teenage agent.

"What does that even mean?" Not even turning around, Carbuncle continued on his way, as Blaine muttered a brief 'oh' before falling silent. It had been a while since they had went their separate ways, them and the other duo, as they had to catch another train elsewhere. Carbuncle didn't know where, or why, but he didn't particularly care about it much (if at all).

Carbuncle was just glad that he had managed to get _some _clothing - even if it was Natsu's stripper-garb.

Hence he was showing _far _more skin than he was comfortable with showing to any old stranger.

"I'll tell you when you tell me your real name?" Actually pausing in his foot-steps, he couldn't help but turn towards the blonde woman. He had to give her some respect, if only begrudgingly, that she had actually had the guts to call him out on his code-name.

"Guess like I am better off not knowing then. I really don't see how you would ever need to know my name." Carbuncle really didn't feel the need to share his real name. It would make things far more complicated, and he really didn't want things to be any harder than they already are. "So you use some form of augment magic then?" He actually was curious about what magic she had used before, because it couldn't have been Lucy and it certainly wasn't Happy.

Unless there was something that the cat hadn't told them.

She was about to answer, but was rudely interrupted by a familiar face. Seeing that _kid _from the train station - he tried to remember the name, but stopped when he realised he didn't care anywhere near enough to put too much effort in - approach them, Carbuncle's brow furrowed as a scowl blossomed on his face.

He _really_ didn't like it when he didn't get his way.

"What's up pretty la...dy?" The rushing child seemed to stop in his tracks, after seeing his current ensemble. Gone was the simple 'Heart Kreuz' top and in its place was Natsu's _very_ revealing jacket. Showing to the adolescent that he was, indeed, a male and not a female like he had blissfully believed.

"What?" Thinking he was talking to her, Blaine answered, smirking in a manner that screamed arrogance. "Why thank you for the compliment, I didn't realise that these people were so nice...maybe I should have paid more attention to…" She seemed to return to her own little world, muttering words in a language Carbuncle couldn't quite place.

"Oh...sorry...I think I have the wrong person." Grinning innocently, the young boy laughed awkwardly as he scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. "You reminded me of a girl I met recently…"

"So what's your name?" Asking the question that was plaguing his mind, the azure agent only nodded when he got his response. "So, Hale?"

"Yup that's me." Thumbs up, the blue haired child looked far too happy for someone just acknowledging him.

"Why are you up at this time - it's like four in the morning?" Hands on hips, he looked the part of an angry parent, with Blaine in the background nodding emphatically.

"The train just arrived." Hale wasn't even fazed - he stood there with a _cheesy _grin on his face whilst he explained what happened. "And weren't you kicked off the side of the track?"

Not about to be beaten by a twelve year old (or however old he was - he looked about it) he was pre-empted by Blaine, who dragged the pair of them off into a nearby alleyway. Carbuncle was about to protest, but was silenced by a hand over his mouth. He could only glare in anger at the girl, who just pointed a finger out the entryway.

Removing the hand over his mouth, he stuck his head out inconspicuously, eyes trying to find just what made her so jumpy. The outskirts of Narcisca, despite them not being the inner core of the city, weren't a mess like most other cities. Foregoing any and all synthetic material, the city was entirely natural - where there should be pavement was nutrient-rich soil, with a myriad of plants blooming on the surface. The buildings may of been brick, but they weren't the typical orange you'd find elsewhere: they were green. Brilliantly vivid verdigris, they looked as if they were all natural - enhancing the ambiance of the town.

He loved it.

Feeling a sharp elbow to the gut, A frosty glare from Blaine forced him to follow her finger, where he was met with a peculiar sight.

A sight that screamed _synthetic _and _unnatural _and _fake-fake-fake-fake._

The man, for assuredly it was a man, was of average height - if he had to guess he was around five foot ten inches. But that was the only thing that was average about him. Sharp features, long onyx hair that just barely reached his shoulder styled in such a way to cover his right eye, and a peculiar scar divided his face, almost reaching his lips. Emotionless, he reminded Carbuncle of a _machine _- emotionless and empty and alone. A long-sleeved T-shirt hung loosely over his thin frame, and the trousers he was wearing were obviously covering _something_.

This _machine _(for his gut instinct was telling him that there was something not quite right about him) was not a stranger to Carbuncle, for he knew immediately who it was when he saw the characteristic grimoire clutched tightly in his hands.

"W-who's that?" Hearing the whisper from Hale, Carbuncle answered the question that was on both the child's and his partner's mind.

"His name is Iname Kagero. The Creation Mage." An unfamiliar feeling welled up in his chest, an oddly frigid sensation settling in his chest. "A criminal."

"He's a criminal?" Blaine murmured, an unreadable emotion in her eyes. "How come the Agency hasn't caught him?"

"That's classified." Focused, he looked to the other two around him. "We need to see why he is here - and if his goals are opposite ours, then we'll have to deal with him."

"But how are we going to get close to hear what he is saying?" Blaine inquired, throwing him off as Carbuncle tried to figure out a way.

"I could help with that." the way that he said it caused the red-head's eyebrow to twitch. "I'm a Shadow Mage, so I could very easily take us there."

They didn't need to ask him, as he did it anyway.

Now that they were one with the shadows, they tried to be as stealthy as possible, not making any noise as they tailed the man. It didn't take long for them to reach hearing distance, where they could hear the conversation taking place.

"...demon...rim..som...na..l"

They couldn't get any closer without risking being caught. And what they did here only made them even more curious about why he was in Narcisca.

"Ter...ate...da...gui...good."

"Is he talking about…?" Trailing off, Blaine hinted at him possibly being here for the same reason as them - a conclusion that Carbuncle had sadly come to as well. This mission was slowly going off the deep end, and Carbuncle wished for _something _to happen that would return it back to normalcy.

"I think he is." Short and to the point, his mind was preoccupied with him trying to figure out what was going on. Plans formed and faded like night and day, contingencies after contingencies after _contingencies _repeating as he tried to figure out a way to make it so that the Creation Mage wasn't a problem.

His mind was blank.

The fragmented phone call stuttered and came to a close, as Carbuncle saw Iname disconnect. He couldn't see any emotion on his face, or any sign of _anything _that could tip him off about what he was thinking.

Just_ what_ was going on here?

Whilst he was in his own little world, Iname had long since vanished; going off to do whatever it was that he was here for. With an audible sigh of relief, he could feel the shadows lose their hold on him, returning him to the outside world. Stretching his legs to return feeling back to them, as he was currently going through the _wondrous _feeling of _pins-and-needles,_ he didn't hear the question that he was asked by Blaine, and it was only when he was poked did it occur to him that someone was trying to talk to him.

"Hmm?" Tilting his head slightly, he shivered at how cold it had suddenly become, whilst Hale snickered in the background.

"Look down." Following her advice, he paled, before flushing angrily, turning to face the shadow user with a face that promised pain.

"What...did you do...with my pants."

"The shadows have them."

…Cobra better watch out, his place as the most stupid person in Carbuncle's life was slowly becoming replaced by this brat.

"You have to stroke the shadows to get your clothes back. They prefer it to be slower rather than faster, and make sure not to pull anything - they don't like being hurt."

..._What? What is this I don't even?_

He was surrounded by perverted idiots. He gets rid of one and two spawn out of the wood-work like _cock-roaches. _At least he could get rid of the kid soon.

The sooner the better.

"...You're ridiculous."

But at least he has Blaine on his side to make it slightly less annoying. He didn't want to know what it would be like if Jayne or Eevee or, god-forbid, _Zimi_ was here with them as well.

That was something he _didn't _want to imagine.

"Sorry Hale, but Blaine and I have to go – we have to be somewhere soon. So stop being ridiculous and give me back my clothes – unless you want me to walk around without pants all day." Carbuncle was tired and grumpy – a dangerous combination made only worse by the fact that he carries _explosives _around with him. Explosives that he, personally, isn't afraid of using on those who made him particularly angry.

"Oh well, guess like you have to go without pants then." Carbuncle had to restrain himself from attacking the child – he will have to save something like that for when he was an official criminal.

_Never thought I would think that…_

From experiences with other children, he knew that he was getting nowhere. So with an exasperated sigh, he stormed off, heading further into the city. He wanted to get to sleep as soon as possible, as he didn't want to stay up too late and not be able to wake up in the morning. They did have to retrieve some information about Crimson Nail after all, and they couldn't exactly do that unless they get up at reasonable times to make rounds.

They might be lucky enough to find that other guy that he had demolished – that would be good. He'd get to embarrass him again, and isn't that a good experience.

"Blaine could you do me a massive favour?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Could you make sure I get up in the morning? Otherwise I'll stay asleep until five or something. You don't have to if you have troubles with time or anything."

"Trust me; I know quite a bit about time."

Deciding to trust her, the conversation died down as they searched for a hotel or something so that they could get some rest.

Why did he suddenly fear waking up again?

Shrugging it off, he wondered how the other people were doing. He trusted Arrow's and Eevee's abilities, but he was worried about how Jayne and Zimi were handling theirs. He didn't exactly feel confident in their abilities, so he could only hope that something doesn't go wrong.

_...Oh well, what's the worst that could happen?_

* * *

**_Chapter 6, Fin~_**

_**Welp, all I'm gonna do is reiterate what I've said above - I hope that I'm characterising your characters correctly. If I am doing it wrong, send me a message or something about it, or leave it in a review as I'd like to make them as close to perfect as I can get.**_

_**And just because OCs aren't getting a lot of screen time now doesn't mean they wont get it later~**_

_**Well, onto list of OCs that have been a thing so far~**_

_**So onto the OCs already shown in the story (other than Carbuncle):**_

**_The Lazy Bitch's: Zimi_**

**_QueenKazza's: Jayne_**

**_Hikari-Angel143's: Eevee_**

**_motordog's: Blaine_**

**_Arcobaleno-Lover's: 'Arrow'_**

**_Cute-Kawaii-Girl's: Hale_**

_**Hollow-Kyuubi's: Iname Kagero**_

_**Oc's mentioned:**_

**_Saiyan-Styles': ? - (Hidden to avoid spoilers :D)_**

**_Arcobaleno-lover's: ? - (Hidden to avoid spoilers :D)_**

**_Now that that is done - THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT :D - Your reviews are awesome! We are at 35 reviews/ 14 Follows and 9 favourites~ I hope you liked this one enough to continue reviewing~_**

**_So until next time,_**

**_HalcyonNight._**

**_P.S: Remember - Any questions, just drop me a Pm and I'll answer them to the best of my ability - even if it is something as simple as what a word means or to clarify what happened in a particular bit, or even just to say hi~_**


	7. Sextus: Ruby Flare

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. If I did, there would be more focus on the Dark Guilds._**

**_So this chapter was supposed to be out on Thursday. But I finished it today, and through amazing work between QueenKazza and I we have it all sorted._**

_**That, and i have coursework to do so I'll be fading until next week-ish to get that sorted (drafts have to be handed in Friday, so I'll be able to start the next chapter then~**_

**_So hope you enjoy this chapter - enough to review/follow/fav~ Oh yeah, is it just me or does Fanfiction make everything look really small xD_**

**_Oh yeah, This Chappie is from Jyne's perspective~_**

* * *

"So…Cobrancle?"

"Yup. It's a thing that I'll ship until the end of days. Jayne, you should join us."

"I…think I'll pass. But thank you for the offer."

"No problem."

Jayne was regretting ever setting foot on this mission. At first it seemed as if it was a good idea to go on a mission with the person she had known for the longest, but she should have taken into account that this was _Zimi_ that she was going with. She isn't exactly the definition of normal, even for a ten year old, and she could only blame herself for making that decision to go with the youth. So with a sigh, she followed the youth through the city they had arrived in, as the pair made their way towards their destination.

Onibus certainly wasn't a city she was familiar with, so she had to trust in her young partner, even though her sanity was certainly questionable at best. Normally, she wouldn't be so heavy-handed, as she was indeed an advocate for her prized 'Three Cs' (to be 'Cheerful, 'Caring and 'Carefree' – she will never forget them), but Carbuncle was rubbing off on her with his caustic personality and pessimism.

But she won't judge him for that; she isn't the kind of person to do something like that without knowing why. For all she knows, he could have a past like hers, so until the day he opens up will be the day that she will make her final judgement.

"What has you in such deep thought, hmm?" The saccharine sweet tone of the child grated on Jayne's nerves, but she didn't show it. She has to stay cheerful and all, and being annoyed would counteract that. "Is it a certain special someone?"

_Carbuncle…_

"Umm, nothing really…" She couldn't tell her that she was thinking about him, and she couldn't say that she was questioning Zimi's skills either, so she just went with the safe option of nothing at all. That way she doesn't risk the child getting angry. "Hey…what do you think Carbuncle's real name is anyway?"

Hey, she might as well _ask _what Zimi thought about it – it couldn't hurt to get someone else's opinion.

"Well, I am not too sure to be honest." Jayne noted that she seemed to be pensive about something, delicate frown on her face as she mulled over the question, setting her immediately on edge. "I-I even asked around Alexandria, and they hadn't even heard of him before."

"Wait, they _haven't _heard of him before? But I thought that he had been there countless times?" This, to Jayne, didn't make any sense. What was so important about his name that he wouldn't reveal it to anyone, and go to such lengths to hide it from the world? "What is so special about it that he would hide it from everyone?"

The longer she thought about it, the more questions that cropped up. It wasn't as if he was a fugitive that needed to keep his identity protected at all times (though, now that she really thought about it, weren't they _technically_ fugitives now that they were completing missions on behalf of Oracion Seis), or that he was a part of some witness protection program that meant that he couldn't reveal his true identity to anyone or else he would be killed.

Or maybe he just _really _likes his privacy. That could also be a reason too, even if it is really anticlimactic and boring and slightly _depressing._

"He could be a princess?" Jayne could only sigh at that, realising that this should have been expected when it came to Zimi.

"I'm sorry, but I'm sure that would have been a 'sorry, you're princess is in another castle' moment…" Flipping a lock of hair to the side, the elder couldn't help but feel her mood darkening.

Frown in place, the more she thought about it, the more stock the idea had. Of course, not that Carbuncle was a _girl _(_that would only make things…awkward? Is that the right word?)-_ if that was the case, then she is either _really_ masculine or a_ really_ good actor.

"What if Carbuncle was a girl?" Even as she said it, Jane couldn't help but focus on the absurdity of it. It was one of those cases where it was just so _absurd _that it could be real. If this was the case, however, then why would she pretend to be a man? It just didn't make sense, but it did in some strange, ephemeral way.

"Carbuncle. A girl?" It really did feel like a role reversal – now Zimi was staring at her like she just said that Ichiya was attractive, or that Hibiki wasn't a man-whore.

"Well, it _could _be true; after all it's not as if we have seen his…her…umm…you-know-what…" She just had to say it, didn't she, and the look she was getting from Zimi just said it all. "And we don't have access to his birth certificate, and it could explain why he doesn't like the Trimens." At this point, she was just grasping at straws, and her argument was making less and less sense the more and more she tried to justify it.

But she'll stay true to her convictions. She started it, so she'll see it through to the end, even if it gets absolutely _shredded _as a result.

"I don't exactly need to see his 'you-know-what' to see that he is a boy, lol. I have seen enough of his top half to now that he is flatter than a board." The nonchalant way that she said it nearly tripped Jayne up, for she wasn't expecting something like that in the slightest. "That and it would _totally _ruin the _yaoi _pairing of Cobrancle. Because, you know, then it wouldn't even be a yaoi pairing and it wouldn't be half as interesting as it is now."

"Fair enough. You did meet him first, right? So what does he look like – I only caught him doing his hair." Feeling a seemingly random surge of anger, she had to calm herself down to stop her temper from getting out of hand, as she remembered how they first met.

"Wouldn't you like to know, pervy nee-san." It may have been teasing, but she could tell that there was a hidden threat underneath the tone, reinforced with steel and silk. "You'll have to ask him to strip for you."

"W-What do you mean, strip? I ain't gonna ask him to undress in front of me – I'm not _that_ curious to lower myself to that." Blushing furiously, the weak glare she threw at the child was ignored, as she only laughed at the rebuttal. "So…there isn't any chance that he is a girl?" Was it bad that she was slightly hopeful for her to answer in the positive?

"Not that I know off. Unless, of course, he is a master of transformation magic." Her tone voice then seemed to turn arrogant, "Like myself, obviously." She punctuated this statement with a laugh, eliciting a sigh in response.

_Well, she certainly isn't modest…_

"He could be – he is an agent after all. Maybe it's a prerequisite or something?" For all she knows, that could be how it is. They could all be trained on ways to cover their tracks, or to mislead their enemies with a different appearance, or other things to that nature. "I'm more curious about what he truly looks like."

"Truly looks like…?" Zimi trailed off. Staring at the elder with a mix of both curiosity and confusion, she seemed to be waiting for her to continue.

"Well, for all anyone of us knows: the long aquamarine hair and emerald eyes, the sharp features, the baritone – it could all be a performance." She knows she shouldn't' be getting so worked up about it, but Jayne couldn't help herself. It was just far too interesting, and kind of hurtful (though she knew for certain that _that _wasn't quite the word to describe it) that he would hide his true appearance. They were supposed to be a team, so shouldn't he feel as if he can show his true appearance around them?

It may be hypocritical, but…she honestly felt as if he should at least show them his real appearance.

"To be perfectly honest, I think that we don't really have to worry about nii-san's appearance." Zimi started, and elaborated when she heard the interested 'hmm' from her partner. "I don't know, but, it isn't really important at the moment, is it?"

Jayne may be loath to admit it, but she was right – they had much more important things to deal with at the moment that needed their full attention.

"But there is one thing that I am worrying about." Now that caught Jayne's attention, turning her full attention to her as she spoke. "I'm worried about Arrow."

"Arrow? What about him?" Jayne really didn't see anything wrong with the silver haired youth, other than his sparkling personality and ability to use illusions.

"I don't trust people who can copy others – it is just so bleh." Now that was the first time that she ever heard 'bleh' used as an adjective, though it didn't overshadow what she actually said. "And don't even say anything about hypocrisy, my way of doing it is different."

"Different? How so?" As far as she knows, there is literally no difference between what her magic is and the magic used by the source of her mistrust. "You both use Copy Magic, right?"

For all intent and purpose, they sound the same to Jayne - they both copy other people, and can mimic their mannerisms, so what else was there too it?

"Well, for one, I use Copy Magic, and he uses Illusion Magic. I don't know the full extent of his abilities, but I do know that mine rely on factors like magic power and the type of magic that I want to copy." She lectured – well, ranted in the way that all angry kids do – to the intrigued Jayne. "And I also don't copy how people look, just their skillz." With her rant officially over, she plopped down on the floor, trying to catch her breath after that angry spiel.

"So in other words, you're territorial?" Mischievous glint in her eye, Jayne took the lead, looking around for their mission destination. They were supposed to arrive at some form of theatre where they were recording the show, and they had to find some way to be a-part of the cast. She already has a plan in mind for that, but it was implementing it that would be the hard part.

She wasn't exactly the _strongest _person in the world – but she was at least the most _fabulous._

In her eyes, that is.

"I may not know what that means, but I can tell you that I'm not 'territorial'." Indignant pout dialled to full-force, she tacked on a hasty 'unless it's good, of course'.

"Well I suppose it's good if…" She was cut-off by a sparkly-eyed Zimi, who was twirling a strand of hair in her fingers as she smirked in pride.

"Well, if that's the case, then I am the most territorial person out there. My terri is so torial you don't even know it. I'm so territorial that not even…" She seemed to fumble for a name, before plucking a name out of the air, "…Naruto can believe it."

"…At least you are looking on the bright side of things…" Jayne could only stare as the girl was getting more and animate, stirring up some form of scene as a result. "I think you should calm down though, not many people see it as a good thing."

"How come?" Slowly deflating from her high, Zimi could only stare at Jayne as she explained what 'territorial' really meant. "Oh." Her face was blank for a moment as her mind slowly processed the information. You could almost see the cogs in her head whirring as they worked, and Jayne swore that she could hear them working.

"So now do you understand what 'territorial' means?" Whilst she may have been expecting the pause, she certainly wasn't expecting what followed. With a flourish befitting a prima-donna, not so much a self-proclaimed Oracion Seis huntress, Zimi announced to the world that 'she'll be the most territorial bitch in the business'. "Hey watch your language! You're ten, not twenty!"

"But I'm on a mission that could end in death – aren't I allowed free reign with my language?" Her only answer was a stern glare thrown in her general direction. Jayne was determined to raise this girl up properly in the absence of her parents, and if that meant being harsh then so be it. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind, and when she was older she'll certainly thank her. Tough love and all that. This was something that she knew would be a shared sentiment between her and Carbuncle, the unofficial leader.

"No buts. Control your language, otherwise people won't respect your decisions if you go effin and jeffin everywhere," Ignoring the argument of 'Carbuncle swears too and you don't tell him to stop', she continued on her responsible lecture, garnering attention from quite a few people as she continued, "What would your parents say if they heard your language?"

"M-My parents? What exactly do they have to do with it?" Taken-aback and furious, the child tone was like an inferno, uncharacteristic heat lashing out from her words. "Anyway, what are we doing here? You didn't tell me what our mission was anyway, just dragged me off."

"I didn't drag you off. You followed me. Saying something about leaving the 'lovebirds' alone."

"…Oh yeah! Now I remember! Arrow x Eevee is so totally canon. Almost as canon as Cobrancle."

"…So it isn't canon then?"

"Don't ruin my dreams."

"You're ten. You aren't supposed to have dreams like that until you're at least thirteen."

"You still haven't answered my question, what is our mission?"

_Why do I have a feeling that I am going to regret telling Zimi what the mission is?_

"We have to infiltrate the Onibus Theatre, and find out what is going on," She suddenly felt cautious about giving her the full details, but the non-verbal prompt of the child made it so that she has to keep going at this point, "And the only available program that needs to be recorded ahead of time is the 'O-Nine-Hundred' slot, which we'll use to gain access to the hidden side of the Theatre."

Jayne could only watch in nervous anticipation as Zimi tried to figure out what 'O-Nine-Hundred' means.

But then she did, and the look on her face was a mix between sheer _betrayal _and _depression _and _rage._ Jayne honestly didn't see why she was acting this way – it wasn't as if she had asked to eat her first-born.

"Come on, kiddo, let's go." Twinkle in her eyes, Jayne dragged the petrified girl up the stairs to the theatre.

Oh they were going to have _so much fun._

After all, they were on an _ad-ven-tur-a_, so they should make the most of it.

'Come on, vamanos, let's go' and all

* * *

Jayne didn't see why Carbuncle complained so much, she was having an absolute _blast._

She was feeling quite _explosive, _and if she may have even dared to call herself _bombastic. _Kids these days should realise that this is the _bomb. _How could it not, after all, with how _volatile_ the scene was - she could feel herself _bursting _at the seams. Jayne wasn't even being sarcastic when she said all that, and it was completely and utterly true. Every single word. Completely true. Two consonants. Two vowels. T-R-U-E true.

…It was obvious that she was lying, wasn't it?

Trying to block out the situation going on around her, she fully agreed with Carbuncle now. These missions were an absolute _pain in the ass (_she usually doesn't swear, but it had gotten to the point where it was _just too much _and if it doesn't end soon, someone dies) and the Oracion Seis should be shot for how evil they were when making these.

_Oh wait...they are evil._

They may be evil, but they weren't supposed to be _that_ evil. They must have some good in them, otherwise her and her friends (because at this point, what else would they be called?) would be long since dead and buried. After all, it was somewhat doubtful that they would have been able to stand Carbuncle's stunning personality if they were completely evil - they would have just killed him.

Or even worse capture him and do unspeakable things to his body.

...She was suddenly glad that her partner couldn't hear her thoughts, otherwise she would be giggling perversely and would say something ridiculous about bondage.

Bondage involving Carbuncle.

And just to add some spice to the little scenario, she would probably add a little yaoi. And probably 'sparklez', if only for the sake of it.

Returning from her musing, she had to stifle chuckles as she saw what was going on in front of the green screen. Decked head to toe in the iconic 'adventurer', Zimi looked more like a statue than a real human being - one of those wax parodies in _Madame Tussauds_, or to be more precise, a gargoyle cosplaying as Dora. Her voice was strained, strangling off at a few words as the unfamiliar lyrics to 'Mr Map' tumbled like broken glass from her mouth.

Stretching in her get-up (a rather fashionable rendition of 'Swiper', if she does say so herself), she waited for her verbal cue, waiting in anticipation for the broken cacophony to come to an end. Seeing it reach its _grande_ finale, she let the beat fade off into memory as she tiptoed out from her position.

_I am such a good actor...if they could see me now… _She chose to ignore the fact that she visualised a 'heart' at the end of that - it was a far too _Trimens _thing to do, with their _fake-ness _and their_ duplicity._

Hey, she might have come from the same guild, but that doesn't mean to say that she was the _same_ as them. She liked to think that at least she had some class when it came to those she flirted with.

_Oh wow, I must be channeling my inner Carbuncle._

Conspicuous rustling sounds followed her every move, as she wandered through the plastic bushes. Exaggerating her body movements, she got fully into the role, masked visage smiling obscenely as she moved like a puppet on strings - all machine and no humanity.

Pausing deliberately, she waited for the phrase that would never come. Zimi's eyes were twitching frantically, pale blue crest sparkling into existence as she kept her eyes locked onto her 'nee-san.' Confused as to where this was going, she was only given a split second to duck before a _very _familiar ray of light soared over her head.

_Wait a second...isn't that my magic? _With that question in mind, she could only stare in confusion before it clicked.

_She used her Copy Magic on me…_ From her position down low, she was given a somewhat safe vantage point as she saw the once peaceful set degenerate into chaos.

The set to 'Dora the Magic Explorer' was akin to a battlefield. Scurrying like mice, the actors and actresses fled from Zimi's little temper tantrum, flashes of light lancing magnificent arcs from the epicentre. Barely stepping out of the way of an intense beam of light (which she recognised as one of her own - a variation of 'Light Beam', if she wasn't mistaken), she could only watch in dismay as cracks formed in the ceiling as it threatened to collapse in on them.

She had to complete this mission, and fast, otherwise they'll fail it - something which she cannot risk, for what would the others say? After all, they would have mostly completed their mission by now, and here she was trying to do _damage control _whilst they all were being successful.

_Now is not the time for that. Remember the Three Cs! _Recalling them with ease, she realised that there was no point in moping around about it. She could still complete it whilst Zimi was having her little 'Dora the Magical Explorer' episode, and in fact she could only see positives with the situation. She gets to use it as a distraction, and she gets to see Zimi's magic in action, so she can't complain.

With more stealth than was necessary, she manoeuvred herself into the crowd of people escaping the room, surprisingly managing to blend into the crowd with ease. The hallway adjacent to the room they were in was absolutely packed, frightened performers running to and fro as they tried to escape the building. Labyrinthine, yet constricted, she stumbled through the crowd - forcing her way past the distressed individuals as she reached the 'Employees only' door.

The person inside must have ran as soon as the buildings shown signs of collapse, acting like the coward that he truly was. Scowling, she was about to step inside when the building shuddered ominously, leaving her in a ruffled heap on the ground. Far from amused, she took a moment to recollect herself before stumbling back to her feet. Scraping off bits of lint from her outfit (she was still wearing that Swiper get-up, and she couldn't mess that up - she was slightly to blame for blowing up the building after all).

"Jayne-san?" Removing her attention from her (fabulous) dress, she gazed at the innocent figure of Eevee, who had some form of _stone _or _rock _(she couldn't tell with the lighting, but she was certain it was something to do with the earth) covering her limbs as she stood above a slightly dazed Arrow. Eevee's only explanation was a sheepish smile, but that didn't mask the fact that she hid her hands nervously behind her back.

Very suspicious.

Oh well, better to be 'Carefree' (another one of her 'Three Cs'), then to worry about whatever had happened in front of her. Eevee seemed regretful, so she won't push for any answers.

"What are you doing here?" Blatantly ignoring the muttering Arrow, who looked as if he would murder the both of them, she focussed on the significantly more demure looking of the two. Fiddling with the jade pendant around her neck, she wasn't looking either of them in the eye - to Jayne she seemed far too shy.

Maybe she would have to take her out man-hunting - the girls back at the guild used to do that to bond, so it might work with the _earthy _girl. Though it seemed like something that wouldn't work with her, so she might have to take a different method with the girl.

"W-Well, we were looking for information on the second half of the item we were supposed to steal…" At this point, both women were staring at the fully recovered male, who was brandishing an oddly shaped object like a sabre.

"It's pretty obvious that we have to go to Narcisca - let's go." Jayne could only watch as Arrow dragged the shy girl out of the room, slightly stunned at how abrupt they exited. Shrugging it off as best as she could (though she was confused that they didn't comment on the outfit she was wearing) she fumbled around the lacrima screen, trying to find some sort of storage lacrima to record the data that they need.

Snagging a spare aquamarine crystal from the drawer, she held it aloft, watching in fascination as wisps of light coalesced around her and into the tiny gemstone. It didn't take long for the lacrima to die down, and it wasn't a moment too soon as she felt the shockwaves rattle along the ground. The building was going to collapse soon, and she needed to get out there and fast.

_Gotta go fast - like Sonic~_ This may be neither the time nor the place, but it was certainly relevant to what was going on in front of her. The building had long since been evacuated, and it was only a matter of time before they were found out by the Magic Council.

Picking up the pace, she slid into the room containing Zimi. She was lucky that, by some divine will, that the light show ended (a quick look at her communication Lacrima shown that she was gone for thirty minutes - _maybe it's a time-limit or something?_) and Zimi was knocked clean unconscious as a result.

With a tired sigh, she scooped the young child up, made sure she was comfortable, before Jayne herself fired a ray of light at the wall, opening a chasm that would allow them to safely pass through undetected. At this point, the only thought that she had in mind was ensuring that she got to the train station safely, and onto the quickest train to Narcisca.

They have got to get there quickly, otherwise they'll be out of luck.

The sun, which was once high up in the sky, threatened to spill over the horizon, golden orange bathing the sky in resplendence. A blank orange canvas painted with splotches of white-maroon-pink-brown_, _the ripples of the sun reverberated throughout the sky, echoed by weak zephyrs of wind. Covering the town, blanketing it like a mother entrenching a child in a safe cocoon, it was a prettyimage.

Feeling herself a safe distance away from the building (though she could say for certain that she no longer knew where she was), she tried to gather her bearings. Ignoring the stares, the whispers, and the chuckles, Jayne fell to her knees, panting from the physical exertion of carrying a small child on her back. To be perfectly honest, she wasn't exactly the strongest person in the guild, and that she wasn't necessarily the one the people of Blue Pegasus turned to when they needed to take someone down.

In other words, she was weak. There really isn't any point in beating around the bush with it. And to be frank, Jayne was quite content with being _weak_.

People don't have to be strong to be happy, so as long as she had her convictions she'll be fine.

"Excuse me? Do you have some time to spare?"

Looking up, she came face-to-face with an admittedly handsome bishonen_. _Heart-shaped face, platinum blonde hair in a style that almost mimicked Arrow's (she assumed it was the style at the moment, if so many guys were wearing), and a rather slender figure: it was obvious that he was attractive, and from what she could tell, he knew it too.

Too bad for him that she'd spent half her life around Hibiki, so Jayne wasn't exactly swooning over the physical appeal.

Whilst his eyes may be defined as emerald, to her it looked more like poison than anything else. It was a grin meant to intimidate. If she was a lesser person she would have crumpled, but she wasn't. She was a member of Team Crystallux, and she was going to damn well act like it.

Dressed in blue and white, he looked to be going for the 'mysterious' look. Hooded, with a short-sleeved twin-tailed jacket, it gave way to a form fitting sleeveless shirt underneath, showing off his defined abs.

Not that she was staring purposefully, of course, but it was kind of hard to not when they were _right in your face. _What was she going to do, look _above _him? Or through him? Or, dare she say it, at his _feet_?

She liked to think that she had more self-confidence than that.

Below that, he was wearing blue pants (she wasn't quite sure what brand, but it looked like it was 'Heart Kreuz') held aloft by a black belt. Steel-plated boots immediately gave off a sign that he is a fighter - the faux-greaves are a favourite of many battle-mages, for obvious reasons.

"...are you alive in there?"

Knocked rudely out of her musings, she nodded, before waiting for the stranger to introduce themselves.

"Did you cause that?" Her blush said it all. "Thank you." With nothing more than a backwards wave, he left them.

"Is that it - you're not going to introduce yourself or anything?" All she got in response was 'Just ask your friend there.'

_Zimi?_

About to respond, her moment was lost when he faded from view, the only image she had left of the stranger an ominous image of Ouroboros.

Putting it out of mind, she stood from her moment of reprieve, before setting off once more. Securing the Copy mage around her neck, she stood up on shaky legs, exhaling sharply as the unfamiliar weight lay heavy on her shoulders

She did have to get to Narcisca after all, so she should be hurrying. But she couldn't help but wonder how _Zimi_ of all people knew the guy. Unless, of course, she _didn't_ - and it was all just an elaborate ploy to annoy her - but she didn't think he would do that.

_Right?_

* * *

_**Chapter 7, Fin~**  
_

_**So we get to see the other missions from other character's viewpoint's, so I hope you enjoyed the change in char pov (It's obvs next chappie is going to be team EV (I made a bad Pokemon pun, so sue me :P) as the next chapter will also not be from Carbuncle's point of view.**_

_**You can guess who, right?**_

_**At this point, this will only be for certain messages (like Coursework is a thing so the next chappie will be out sometime next week) and for OCs.**_

_**So onto the OCs already shown in the story (other than Carbuncle):**_

**_The Lazy Bitch's: Zimi_**

**_QueenKazza's: Jayne_**

**_Hikari-Angel143's: Eevee_**

**_motordog's: Blaine_**

**_Arcobaleno-Lover's: 'Arrow'_**

**_Cute-Kawaii-Girl's: Hale_**

_**Hollow-Kyuubi's: Iname Kagero**_

_**Apostle of Regeneration's: ? - (Spoilers~)**_

_**Oc's mentioned:**_

**_Saiyan-Styles': ? - (Hidden to avoid spoilers :D)_**

**_Arcobaleno-lover's: ? - (Hidden to avoid spoilers :D)_**

**_Now that that is done - THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT :D - Your reviews are awesome! We are at 41 reviews/ 15 Follows and 9 favourites~ I hope you liked this one enough to continue reviewing~_**

**_So until next time,_**

**_HalcyonNight._**

**_P.S: Remember - Any questions, just drop me a Pm and I'll answer them to the best of my ability - even if it is something as simple as what a word means or to clarify what happened in a particular bit, or even just to say hi~_**


	8. Septus: Ruby Introspection

_**Disclaimer: I am 12 what is dis? Neh xD - I don't own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does~**_

_**Anyway, before you read, I just thought I'll say that I don't feel happy about this chapter, and that there is a distinct lack of humour in this chapter. My apologies for that~**_

_**So hope you enjoy this chapter - enough to review/follow/fav~ Oh yeah, is it just me or does Fanfiction make everything look really small xD**_

_**Oh yeah, this chappie is from Eevee's POV~**_

_**Regardless, I hope you enjoy~**_

* * *

Sometimes, Eevee herself wonders if it is worth it – being nice, and all.

Staring at the back of her partner, the less-than-sociable Arrow, she couldn't help but be _confused _by him. Confused by his every action, his personality, why in the name of Fiore that he did things the way that he did: it wasn't hard for her to be so disconcerted when it came to the Illusion mage, wrapped up in the sheer _edge _he had. It was this _edge, _Eevee supposed, that had led them to this situation – running away from their (dare she say it) friend.

Her friend that was, at this very moment in time, trapped inside a collapsing building. But the Fairy Tail mage should trust in her, in _Jayne_, as the woman should be strong enough to escape. Onibus Theatre wasn't as large as it should be, and it wouldn't be hard to get out of there like they had done. Even if they hadn't taken the _typical _way out, Jayne seemed like the type of person who wouldn't be trapped in such a thing.

And if Jayne was…

Then Jayne was, and there was nothing that anyone would be able to do to change that.

Arrow, suffice to say, wasn't what she was expecting when it came down to it. At first, back when they met in Alexandria, she felt like he was..._misunderstood_, if that was the right word for it. He felt cold and distant, like he didn't want anything to do with them even after he had been the one to follow them. The easiest way to say it was that he felt like _Laxus_ - all angry words, and threatening gestures and heavy-handed judgements.

Despite this, Eevee admired Laxus, but that doesn't mean she was friends with him. After all, nobody is friends with Laxus, even if he is a part of Fairy Tail. Yet that was how he was, and no-one would be able to change that about the 'Thunder God'.

The pair of them were, at the moment, underground - using her magic to make travel easier for them, as they headed for their target. Even if the Earth mage thought should really be in the lead, as it was her magic they were using, Arrow demanded to be in the lead. Why he wanted that, she couldn't really say, but if it made him happy then she didn't mind. It's easier to fight your battles when there was a point to them, not when it was over something so trivial.

From the information that they had gathered from the terminal in the theatre, the next part of their mission would be in Narcisca – the 'City of Beauty'. Eevee had always wanted to go, but it was just so out of the way from Magnolia, and the youth had always been busy with missions, or with work, or with searching.

She didn't know what it was that she was searching for, but she felt she would find it soon.

Carving the earth was always an odd feeling to Eevee, but it certainly was helpful. It cut down on travelling expenses so there wasn't much that she could complain about. It also helped them with their current mission, which was not something that the brunette ever expected to do whilst a Fairy Tail mage. Stealing was a big 'no-no' (coining Mirajane's phrase), so her going around stealing objects was quite frankly surreal.

"So, whereabouts in Narcisca do we have to go?" Brought out of her musings by Arrow, she had to fumble for an answer to give him. She was entirely unprepared for the boy to start a question, as he had made his disdain known the last time she had tried to start a conversation.

"Well…" Trailing off, she tried to shrug off the attitude like any Fairy Tail mage should do, trying to remember where they had to go, "…I think we have to go to a shop there?" Not entirely sure, she gave him the safest answer that she could.

"So a shop?" She could tell that he wasn't happy with such a broad and vague statement, but she was too busy concentrating to focus on the conversation at hand.

"A shop." Repeating it, she hoped that he would get the picture without her having to spend too much time explaining. Eevee, sadly, was no Virgo, so she couldn't just drill through the Earth with ease – especially not when she is having a conversation. "In Narcisca."

"Any details on this particular shop?" Eevee wasn't oblivious, even if people thought she was. She could hear the sardonic tone of voice, and she could see just how tense his shoulders are, so she would have to explain quickly otherwise there would be a confrontation that would end _badly._

She's had experiences with battles underground_, _and they never went well.

_Never._

But, Eevee supposed, it came with the territory of fighting _underground, _and until she has mastery over the Earth like Jura, then she will never be able to make fighting underground perfectly safe. If she slacks for a moment, then it can end very badly. Hence why she is being so blunt with the boy, for she has to keep her concentration on what she is doing. She didn't want to end up crushed under her own stone whilst she was doing this, which she was warned countless times about.

"It's green." If she was in any other situation, then she would be mortified with how she was acting, but just this once she will let herself off. "And covered in moss."

"Thanks Sherlock. I wouldn't have been able to gather that from where we were heading. It's not as if Narcisca wasn't known for being covered in nature or anything." She could see the male turn towards her, patronising glint in his eyes, as he belittled her. She just remained silent, just like she already did, and focussed on the task at hand.

"So we have to go north?" Seeing the faint nod in the gloom, she couldn't help but ask a question that had been on her mind for a while. "Umm…how are you making light?" It was a completely legitimate question in her eyes, as she didn't understand how he had managed to do it.

"Well, it's to do with this little trinket we picked up." Lifting the sabre, she still didn't see how it linked together. Seeing the clueless expression, the caustic teen only sighed before elaborating.

"It augments my magic."

"…but…" Blushing, she had to slow down the digging to formulate a response. "Well, umm…" Luckily, she didn't have to explain, as he seemed to sense what she wanted.

"This artefact, or weapon, or whatever it is supposed to be called, augments your magical abilities it seems." Gripping the pommel of the blade purposefully, he made exaggerated swings in the tightly confined space, punctuating his statement with each swing. "So this 'sabre' helps whomever with their magic."

_How does that work?_ The question must have been written over her face, as her question was answered a moment later.

"I can't answer that." She couldn't help but sigh at that, slightly despondent that she wouldn't be able to get an answer to her question. "But I'll try to tell you when we leave."

_Is that supposed to be an incentive? _Regardless of whether it was or not, it gave her reason enough to push herself further, harder, _faster. _She may not show it often, but underneath the surface (the earthy, slightly-shy _plain_ surface) she has a competitive streak a mile wide. It came with being a part of Fairy Tail, and you can't be a Fairy Tail mage without some sliver of competitiveness within you.

"If you get there in the next…" She could see him glance at his watch, "twenty or so minutes, then maybe I'll tell you. But I doubt that you'll be able to get there in time, so don't even bother." Even if he was the source of light, she couldn't help but feel as if it would be worth it to knock him unconscious and just drag him along. A thought that was becoming more and more common the longer she spent around the boy.

She should really practice the 'Three Cs' Jayne told her about (if only briefly). It would certainly help her be able to better manage her uncharacteristic emotions around the boy. He seemed to make her feel different, which wasn't necessarily a good thing. Or a bad thing. Only time will tell, if it was a good thing or a bad thing, and she may not usually be a pessimist, but she couldn't help but feel as if it would be a bad thing.

"Ok." Resolve in place, Eevee increased the radius of the magic circle in front of them, the pale yellow growing into a lustrous gold as she forced more magic into the spell. The Earth, as if responding to the spell, started to crumble - speeding past the duo as they rocketed through the ground at intense speeds. Eevee couldn't help but smile slightly as the reluctantly impressed boy lost his balance, unable to stand up at the high velocity that they were travelling at.

"...So you're taking this seriously then." Despite the high speeds, Eevee could still hear what he was saying, a slight blush on her face from both exertion and embarrassment. "I see. He was right after all."

_He? _Now that was curious. Eevee couldn't help but focus on that word, slightly intrigued by who it referred to. Could it have referred to Carbuncle (a notion that was quickly removed from her head when she realised that there was no prior meeting between the two) or someone that she knew from Fairy Tail? Feeling her mind coming up blank, there was little for her to do other than carry on pouring magic into the spell.

_Maybe one day I'll meet this 'He'._

Pushing the conundrum out of her mind, if only for the time being, she carried on digging. It may not be a battle, but it was close enough in her eyes to count, so she may as well try her very best. Even if the thought of finding out who this 'He' was, it wasn't so important that she could turn her head away from what was currently going on to think about it. The fate of the world didn't hang on whether or not she found out about it, and she wasn't the type of person to actively hunt down everything about someone.

If they wanted to tell her about themselves, then they could. And she would listen, and help out if she could. For that was her life.

"I think we are…" Taking a deep breath, she put on one last bit off speed, breaking through the earth and out onto a rocky outcropping. Skyrocketing into the air, the duo could only share a single thought of '_oh-god-oh-god-oh-god-oh-god-HELP-ME' - _even if they didn't outright state it, and fell to the ground in a style reminiscent to that of a pair of birds. A pair of birds that had forgotten how to fly, and subsequently they landed in an unceremonious heap on the floor.

Moaning in the crumpled heap they were in, Eevee just hoped that she hadn't destroyed something that cost a lot of money, as otherwise The Master would not be pleased. He already has to pay far too much from Natsu alone, and she didn't want to add to that by destroying some property or expensive junk that would cost the guild greatly. She had destroyed one thing once, a long time ago when she was first starting out, and has learnt to avoid doing so.

Mirajane can be scary when she wanted to be.

"As I was trying to say…" Wondering why his voice caught in his throat, Eevee tried to find what had caught his attention, a feat that didn't appear to be too hard, given their current situation. They were surrounded.

Surrounded by, well, people.

Crawling up to her feet, Eevee could only blush, as the brutally shy teen felt the eyes of _hundreds_ on her. They were on a plateau, in the middle of nowhere, in front of a locomotive. For once, Arrow didn't have anything rude to say, shocking Eevee immensely. Usually (one could only assume that he was always like this, and that it wasn't because of _him-her-them-us-me)_ he would have something to say in this situation, but it seemed even he came up short when it came to what was currently going on.

A blush emblazoned on her face like a conspicuous medal, she could only stare at the ground in embarrassment and shame. Even if Eevee knew deep down that there was really no reason to be ashamed, she couldn't help herself. So all that could be done was for her to wait until something broke the atmosphere.

"...Hello." Surprisingly, the cordial greeting came from Arrow, who was now grinning awkwardly at the crowd. "I don't suppose you could tell us where we are? My friend here," He gestured to Eevee, whom didn't notice, "Eevee, made a mistake and we should really be getting to Narcisca really soon." Attention overpowering her natural instinct of _hide, _she let herself give a brief greeting before returning to her previous position. "As you can see, Eevee really isn't confident…" Eevee could feel the stares on her as he continued talking; growing steadily more self-conscious the further he went.

"Ohh…" A collective groan seemed to pass through them, as if they were expecting them to be something else. "So you aren't here to fix the engine." A male (or at least, what sounded like a male to her) spoke up, as the congregation dissipated when they realised that it wasn't who they were after.

"The engine?" Now that the spotlight was off them, Eevee marvelled at just how arbitrary people are, before turning her attention to the new morsel of information. "How long have you been here?" Now that there was time to actually think about it, just how _long _have they been there in the first place? She couldn't even think of it being longer than a few hours, but something just seemed to suggest that they had been there longer than they were supposed to.

"Yup. There was an issue with the engine, and ever since we've been waiting." Flicking a hand behind her head, Eevee could get a good look of the young girl.

Towering above her (though that wasn't a massive achievement, considering she herself was only Five foot One), the other female shared similarities to her that couldn't just be ignored - in her eyes. Long, mahogany tresses that mimicked the colour of hardwood and a figure that was quite like her own, _but not quite_ - enough differences to make them unique, but enough similarities to make them look related. A primary difference was their skin colour, the taller girl's mocha skin completely different to her own, and the fact that the smiling girl was slightly thinner that her.

If she didn't know better, and was a few years younger, Eevee would have assumed they were sisters.

But she was old enough to not get her hopes up.

"And to answer your other question, we've been here for a few days." Laughing slightly, she threw a small smile at her, honey eyes twinkling slightly as she did so. "We've been waiting a few days for a maintenance team to come, but…" Downcast, the seemingly chirpy girl seemed to dim a little, before returning to her previous self a few moments later.

"So you've been here for a few days?" Startled, and slightly awed, Eevee was mentally derailed as she realised that they had been there for days. "How come you didn't try to walk there?" Even she would have tried to get to civilisation if she was stranded.

"Well...I would have left, but I don't know the way." Sheepish, something seemed to cross across the unknown girls face, culminating into some form of surprise, wide, round eyes seeming to smile. "I've not introduced myself, have I?" With a mock curtsy, she introduced herself to the two of them, who replied in kind.

"So your name is Jessica, right? Any last name." Arrow bit out, dropping the kind act now that no-one else was around. "Please say you have a last name and that you aren't gonna drown us in your sob-story." Exasperated, he did a complete shift, storming away from them and into the nearby foliage. "You do, don't you? That's it I'm gone."

"Sorry, but I...have to…" Unsure, and somewhat conflicted over what to do, she was given a small smile and a gentle 'go on' before following in his footsteps. It was almost, ironically, like a bunny chasing a big bad wolf, and if she was an outsider then she would have chuckled at the like-ness.

In fact, Jessica did chuckle, slowly falling into hysterics as the likeness hit her with the full-force of a freight train. Fingering her pack carefully, she slipped a petite hand into the cream hand-bag, daintily pulling out an opalescent Lacrima crystal. Flipping through the contents, a slight smile on her face, it seemed to grow in intensity when she came to a specific profile. Picking it, she didn't have to wait long for the owner to answer, a gruff voice following the dial.

"Hi, Nikita, could you contact _him_ please?" Fiddling with a strand of hair, she twirled it in her hands, rapidly becoming bored with the procedure.

"Him? Why?"

"More mages have appeared. We managed to record that red-headed mage and his friend, the blonde one. Though it is doubtful they survived, since all of them went off the plateau." A short burst of laughter followed, the man on the other side finding the entire thing to be amusing.

"Any information we should pass on?"

"Let's just say that, one of them is related to our needs." Jessica could hear the question in his voice, and resigned herself to explain to her _slightly_ less intelligent best friend.

"How so…"

* * *

For Eevee, running wasn't _exactly _the greatest thing in the world, but she could run when needed.

But that didn't mean she had to like it.

_...the child seems to be rubbing off on me..._Hoping that she wouldn't pick up anymore traits from the team - she wouldn't know what to do with herself if she picked up Jayne's optimism, or Blaine's cool temperament, or Mavis forbid _Carbuncle's Bitchiness_ (which probably could think for itself, it was that much of a _thing)_ - she focused on the task set before her.

Following Arrow.

It was blatantly obvious to her that he wasn't trying to hide where he was going, almost making it seem like he wanted her to follow him. Dashing through foliage like a small yet determined rabbit in the big wide forest, Eevee was determined to find him. She wanted to know why he had left so abruptly, why he was so angry, and most importantly he was acting so mercurial. Leaping over branches, piercing barriers of leaves and dodging errant branches, Eevee was honestly surprised that she hadn't been hit yet by any barricades.

It wasn't long until she arrived; spotting the slightly hunched figure of Arrow, seemingly out of place surrounded by the natural wildlife. Cascades of water, starting their long journey to the sea, plummeted off the side of the mountain, streaks of cobalt veiling the craggy rock below. A short expanse of _green_, almost as vivid as her own prized pendant, blanketed the ground, lilac wildflowers _blooming_ and _flourishing_ in the green bed. With one step forward, she slowly took it all in, making her way toward the immobile figure of Arrow.

"_Pretty_ isn't it?" Stressing the word 'pretty', Arrow gestured the girl towards him, to sit by his side as he watched the world below. Seeing no reason not to, she stepped towards the boy, crouching down by his side - but not too close to the edge. She was afraid of heights, and she didn't want to embarrass herself more than she has done already.

"I suppose." Awkward, she really tried to keep the conversation going, but she couldn't really think of anything to say. Well, anything _nice _to say. To her, the earth seemed _fake - _as if it was trying to pretend to be something it wasn't, and the green grass didn't feel like grass and the water just seemed far too _blue._

It unnerved her.

It, she supposed, fitted Arrow - the boy who seems to have far too many secrets and a name that wasn't a name.

"So what do you think of the rest of them?" She must have said 'them' out loud, because he explained what he meant a moment later. "You know the rest of 'Crystallux' - or whatever you call yourselves." Letting out an 'oh', she realised what he meant after that.

"I don't know?" She saw him raise an eyebrow speculatively, as if he didn't believe what she was saying. "I really don't know what to think of them, to be honest." Eevee was surprised that she didn't stutter. Normally she does that when she has to talk about herself.

"You don't know? How do you not know?" Feeling the antagonism, she started to shrink into herself, not exactly finding the atmosphere _pleasant. _"Fine then. If you don't know, you don't know. Whaddya' feel about this mission anyway?" The sabre was pushed towards her, plain pommel looking tantalising to touch as it drew near. Snaking a hand towards it, she picked up the weapon, looking into the reflective surface of the blade.

Eevee let out a high-pitched scream as a lance of _white-hot _pain coursed through her body as a result. Hearing the clatter of steel on earth, she cradled the injured arm, whimpering as she tried to stop the pain. Letting out a strangled curse, she was reduced to hyperventilating until it faded away, dying down into some tiny, irritating sliver that would remain.

"W-What was that?" Staring betrayed, Eevee was unprepared for the tiny smirk on his face. He was looking at her, re-evaluating her with his eyes, the orbs categorising her in his head. "W-Why are you staring like that?" She was becoming unnerved at the intent stare, unused to such a stare being thrown at her.

"You felt it didn't you?" Eevee nodded, thinking he was referring to the broken artefact. "I see. It seems that it only affects people with magic." With his experimental hypothesis in hand, he returned the artefact to where he was storing it.

"If it only affects people with magic, then why did we find it in a non-magic antique shop?" Everything about their chosen mission had gone smoothly, up until they had headed to the theatre in Onibus. "Wouldn't it be more at home in a magic shop or something?"

"Probably, but it make sense that it was there as well." Staring out into the horizon, a deep expanse of black, he seemed thoughtful about something. "No-one else there seemed to have been effected when they touched this thing, so it must of wound up there as they weren't harmed trying to carrying it."

"Makes sense…" She was being completely truthful when she said that, as when you think about it, no mage would be able to use it if it hurt them from use. The only one who seemed to be resistant to it was Arrow, which really didn't make sense to her. "But why are you able to use it."

"I imagine it real. My magic, enhanced by this, makes it stronger, so in essence I am tricking the artefact into thinking it is complete when in all actual fact it isn't." Eevee was going to be honest when she says that she doesn't _really _understand just how it works, but was just going to nod her head and say yes.

She doesn't want to look like a complete idiot, after all.

"Ok…" Changing the subject, she was reminded of the deal they made before. "How did you create light before, whilst we were underground?" As the victor, she earned her answer.

"I used illusion magic. And the artefact. Which made it possible." Smug smirk in place, he answered the question without actually _answering_ it, making her pout in dismay. "Are you...pouting?" Eliciting a rough bark from him, she was surprised to hear anything other but grunts and moans from him.

"...Yes." Depressed, she tried to change the subject once more; however, Arrow wasn't letting that happen, repeating annoying statements over and over again in an attempt to rile her temper for his cruel enjoyment. "Stop bullying me." She was 'confident' and independent, so if he wanted a fight…

He'll get a fight.

"But it's too fun." The phrase may have meant to sound like whiny child, it just came out threatening when said by him. A short lived silence followed that statement, before he stood from his spot. Following his every move with her eyes, she waited until he was at the exit of the glade before following. It was when she arrived, that he dropped a bombshell on her.

"Her name was Rydia. Rydia 'Jessica' Skywalker. I'm looking for her." Walking into the gloom, she was left alone at the border, left to think about who this person was to him.

"Rydia Skywalker huh…" It was farfetched that the Jessica they met was the same one, but it would explain why he was so old to the other one. Moving forward, she picked up the pace, running after the distancing boy.

She was looking for someone too.

"Hey wait…" Seeing him come to a stop, she slowed down until she was face to face with him, the male now curious as to why the normally withdrawn teen was so desperate for his attention.

"I-I am looking for somebody too...we could look together?" She proposed to him, reaching out to touch his arm as she did so, reminiscent of how they first met. Getting no other response, other than him tearing himself away from her grip, leaving her behind once more as he moved, walking deeper into the foliage.

"What music do you like?" To say that she was bewildered would be an understatement.

"Trimens. And why would you ask that?"

"Aren't we supposed to get to know each-other if we are doing this travelling thing?" Unsure if she heard correctly, Eevee asked him to repeat himself, smile plastered on her face as he nodded.

Guess like they were in it for the long haul then, him and her, Arrow and Eevee, until they find the truth.

"So...about the Trimens…" The wince on his face was painfully obvious as he said their name.

"What?" One minute he was there, the next minute he wasn't, a faint after-image refracting light as he ran away. "H-Hey, don't leave me."

So Eevee ran, following an image that both was and wasn't there.

...Why did she get the feeling that this would be common?

* * *

_**Chapter 8, Fin~**_

_**This chapter lacks humour, and I'm so sorry about that T.T. Next chapter will be from Carbuncle, so we'll get the return of sarcasm. And OMG There is only two chapters left until we get into the Sapphire Arc, and I haz plans for that~**_

**_You might get some answers for once, instead of questions~_**

**_And Styles don't worry your OC will be here soon - next chappie if my notes are correct~_**

**_Anyway, I'm sorry that this chapter isn't good, and I hope you can forgive me for being bad at stories T.T_**

**_Welp, this is the OC table~_**

_**OC Table:**_

_**Ocs introduced:**_

**_The Lazy Bitch's: Zimi_**

**_QueenKazza's: Jayne_**

**_Hikari-Angel143's: Eevee_**

**_motordog's: Blaine_**

**_Arcobaleno-Lover's: 'Arrow'_**

**_Cute-Kawaii-Girl's: Hale_**

_**Hollow-Kyuubi's: Iname Kagero**_

_**Apostle of Regeneration's: ? - (Spoilers~)**_

_**LyricsgirlR5's: Jessica**_

_**Oc's mentioned:**_

**_Saiyan-Styles': ? - (Hidden to avoid spoilers :D)_**

**_Arcobaleno-l_****_over's: Rydia_**

**_LyricsgirlR5's: _****_Nikita_**

**_Now that that is done - THANK YOU SO MUCH - Your reviews are awesome! We are at 47 reviews/ 15 Follows and 9 favourites~ I hope you liked this one enough to continue reviewing~_**

**_So until next time,_**

**_HalcyonNight._**

**_P.S: Remember - Any questions, just drop me a Pm and I'll answer them to the best of my ability - even if it is something as simple as what a word means or to clarify what happened in a particular bit, or even just to say hi~ And I'm even more sorry for the decline in standard with this chapter T.T - Please forgive me T.T_**


	9. Octavus: Ruby Nail

_**Disclaimer: I am not-so-well when posing this - I don't own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does~**_

_**Anyway, before you read, I wasn't exactly feeling well when writing this chapter, so if you spot any mistakes can you send them me in a PM? And I'm not too happy with this one either, but that can't be helped~**_

_**So hope you enjoy this chapter - enough to review/follow/fav~**_

_**(AND OMG GUIZ THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 50+ REVIEWS :D) **_

* * *

Awkwardly enough, Carbuncle found himself thinking of Cobra.

Not any of the members of his _team, _whom he has yet to figure out any of them – why on Earth they were following him was beyond him, as this wasn't a _simple _mission that someone would just go on for the sake of it. Not any of his former colleagues, like Celeste (Carbuncle remembered that he had to ask the eccentric individual just what sort of drugs he was on) and his workmates. Not even any of his family that he left behind when he ran off to work for the Magic Council.

But why on Earth he was thinking about _**Cobra**_ eluded him. The azure-haired male (the red hair-dye had washed out after the first few days, leaving him with his natural blue hair) was thinking about the irritatingly stupid _stripper. _For him, it was completely laughable, and he just didn't know why he was thinking of him now of all times. It wasn't as if there was anything around that reminded him of the maroon-haired criminal – just the backdrop of a pub, similar to when they first met.

This pub, one of the many dispersed around Narcisca, was quickly growing to become one of his favourites. It fit the bill for everything he liked in a pub – large, spacious and had a distinct lack of any _idiots_ around to ruin his day. The tables had a shine to them, despite the fact that they were wood, and the glasses were clean enough that you wouldn't get some ridiculous disease.

He couldn't help but cringe as he remembered the time he found a _freaking snail _in his glass.

Suffice to say, that bar doesn't exist anymore.

But other than that, the 'Beautiful Bloom' – he almost grimaced at how _cheesy (How else could he describe it) _the name was – held the type of class that was common for a place like Narcisca, so that also added to its appeal for someone like Carbuncle. After all, it was very rare for people to start something in a bar like this, making it perfect for the agent to plan for the upcoming attack on Red Fail, or whatever it I they were called.

It was obvious to everyone that he held no respect for that Dark Guild, and he would have fun crushing the rabble that made up the group.

…_That was uncharacteristically dark._

He could only stare at his hands in shock, slightly unnerved that he would ever enjoy killing people. He may have chosen this sort of lifestyle, but that didn't necessarily mean that he enjoys killing others – it was just an inevitability that he accepted. In his line of work, it was common that there would be death, but he never actively searched it out. This made it jarring to find that he was going to enjoy crushing the guild, and everyone in it, if it was full of people like that one grunt.

Since he had forgotten the grunt name, he decided to just call him '_**Cobra #2',**_ since they probably shared the same type of terminal stupidity.

_Actually, maybe I should call him Hibiki – after all it was probably one of his countless frog spawn that he had with one of his desperate fans._

At this point, he knew he was getting side-tracked by the logistics behind the spawn of stupidity, but it was a nice distraction. It helped to move his mind away from the inevitable future that Carbuncle knew would be filled with _heart-breaking scarlet a_nd the cries of the pseudo-innocent. And to his worn mind I was a legitimate thing to think over – it could be possible, what with how…_promiscuous, _people like the Trimens are, it wouldn't be a shock to find that they had children world-wide.

It disgusted him that he had once been friends with him. He would still be friends with them to this day if it wasn't for Karen Lilica. They grew up together, and whilst they went their separate ways, they never lost contact with the other – despite how busy the other was. So when he found out about her getting together with Hibiki he was happy. And when he found out that she had died, not protected by Hibiki as she should have been...

He was _enraged._

It was sad, but he hadn't ever let go of that anger, so he tried to stay as far away as possible from them.

Staring into the murky liquid of the drink (whiskey, his mind supplied), he stared at his reflection, emerald staring down at honey-emerald, the surface of the liquid distorting his features. Red bled into green, burgundy-blue locks framing a rippling face, and a rueful smirk that refused to move despite the distortions. He looked positively _fabulous,_ and he should be all over them popular magazines like 'Witch Weekly' or whatever it was called.

_I need to focus, not reminisce on the past. _Gathering his (_numerable, if he does say so himself) _wits together, he tried to focus on what was important, and that was figuring out a plan on how to infiltrate the target. The aqua-haired teen; was, admittedly, at a loss as to what to do. He could go for the surprisingly successful 'box' method, but he doubted that they would be tricked by that.

He wouldn't be surprised though, they do seem that stupid.

The other method that he was an advocate of was the surprisingly effective 'prostitute' method. It was an oddball, but it worked especially well on the hormonal ones. But he was always weary of using it, as he still hasn't gotten over how mentally scarring the last time was. With no other method in mind, it looked like he had to create a new one from scratch – not that he was adverse to this, as the other ones were getting outdated, it just meant that he would have to get _creative._

And being creative was _fun._

_What do I know about Fail Nail…?_

From what information they gathered from around town, they had found that, well, there was literally _nothing _on them bar from a general location. They just seem to do absolutely nothing - or at least nothing noteworthy, which probably explains why the Oracion Seis wants them terminated. Carbuncle himself would probably want them to disappear, if they just sat down all day and did jack-all as a guild.

_Great, now I'm sympathising with a Dark Guild. This is almost as strange as that time I discovered 'selfies'_

Regardless of the surrealism, he was disappointed in himself for not finding enough about them. They could have missed something in their search, something that would make them respect them (which was doubtful, but there was always the chance – no matter how small or infinitesimal it actually was) and think twice about belittling them. All they had that was concrete was their general location, and it wasn't even that climactic. There wasn't any dungeon to trek through, or dangerous forests that housed beasts so evil that they had to be sealed there for eternity, and there weren't even any keys they had to get to gain access to it.

It was just on the outskirts of town, ironically, and they were near it before being distracted by the introduction of Iname.

Now that was a curious event – something that he hadn't ever expected from the Creation Mage. He must be interested in something here, and the Crystal Mage wanted to know what. This sentiment was shared with his partner, Blaine, who seemed to have devoted most of her time in finding the male again. She must be intrigued by his magic, and may want to use it to further her own personal goal.

He still hadn't gotten round to asking her about that gauntlet of hers, but it was on his to-do list. It was an intriguing piece of equipment, and he yearned to find out more about it.

Now that the agent thought about it, he couldn't help but feel as if he didn't know anything real about the girl. She was almost as guarded as he was. All he knew about her was that she was a cold, yet extremely curious girl that had the tendency to speak in a way that he had never encountered before. That, and her magic involves speeding up or slowing down an individual, but he felt as if he was missing something when it came to her character.

Something blatantly obvious.

And not to mention Hale, the child that was searching for a girl. He didn't know why, but it grated on his nerves for him to be searching for someone that he was most certainly in love with. Personally, he didn't see the point in _love, _as he had learnt that there was no such thing. He even said this to the young child's face, who swiftly became enraged. He hadn't seen hide or hair of him since, but Blaine seemed to accept the fact that he had left, and continued with the mission.

Carbuncle could only wish the boy luck, wherever he may be, but he was bound to meet him again. Those sorts of occurrences seem to happen naturally, and there was no way for him to avoid meeting him again.

"I didn't take you for the type to drink," Looking up from his spot; he was face to face with someone he never expected to come across in a bar like this.

"Angel?" The confusion was evident in his voice, for it must be, as why else would that send the witch into mad cackles. The azure-haired male was bewildered – why was she here now of all times? It was the sort of thing that would be suspicious to anyone, so he didn't feel like an idiot for being confused, but he still wanted to know why she was here and not…wherever people like her go.

"You want to know why I am here don't you." Without even asking, she took a seat, leaning forward with her hands cradling her head. "You want to know just why I am here, talking to you at this very moment in time?"

Carbuncle still thought of her as a Bitch. It was like she was born to be a bitch or something.

"Yes." Following the non-verbal threat, Carbuncle had to tack on a hasty 'please' to avoid the woman's wrath. He still had to avoid angering her, for she was still an extremely strong woman that could ruin him if he got on her bad side. "Angel, why are you here?"

"Who are you to take that tone with me?" She made a point of lifting one of her golden keys up, the Key of the Twins, if he wasn't mistaken. "And I think I'll tell you when your little friend arrives?"

_Little friend? Who would that be? The fashion sense that you are obviously lacking?_

"Do you mean…Blaine?" It was the only person who could constitute the term 'friend', but even that was a stretch. They were acquaintances, nothing more. "If I wait, will you tell me?"

"Is there something wrong with your hearing? I'm pretty sure that I said that already…" She trailed off, playing around with the lustrous key in her grip. "But I don't think you have to wait long."

He was about to ask why, but was interrupted by the arrival of Blaine, who did not look happy. Her hair was dishevelled, and she had a dangerously tight grip on her gauntlet as her icy-blue eye bore holes into the Oracion Seis member. She looked ready for a fight, and if he didn't know better he would have thought she would have lashed out – but she wouldn't jeopardize the mission like that, she knew the importance of success.

"I didn't realise it was customary to dine with proctors." Her icy eyes were colder than even the harshest tundra, with a voice like steel, as she made to sit next to Carbuncle. He allowed it, as they both needed to be close by in case she lashes out.

"I'm stunned you already figured it out – bravo. I didn't think that you were very smart?" It pained him to take this sort of criticism without lashing out, but he had to grin and bear it. After all, soon he'll get his revenge sooner or later, when she wears a beautiful pair of silver shackles.

"So you're our proctor." It was a statement, and it was taken as such. But he was ignored by the females as they had their verbal war. "What are you judging us on?"

"I'm here more because of a little…investment I placed on you. That, and to report to Master Brain when if you succeed or not with your missions." Not even looking at him, it was clear how low she thought of the male, keeping her entire focus on Blaine.

"So you have placed a bet on us then." Carbuncle had never seen the girl so iron-clad before. "Where on the spectrum do you lay?" He wanted to interject, to say anything, but he had to leave the two girls to it. He would have to trust Blaine's judgement; even if he was loathe to do it.

He hated not being able to take control.

"I think you'll succeed. Racer thinks you'll fail, and this little 'team-spread' of yours will fail. You wouldn't be the first to die in our little test." With her role revealed, she clicked her fingers, ordering a waiter over. "Strawberry Daiquiri." The order was given, and the waiter hurried off to the bar to fix the drink up. "To be honest, you should be proud – normally I condemn hopefuls to death." Angel reclined in her seat, relaxing into it whilst the two process the information.

"So…you, Angel of the Oracion Seis, believe that we'll succeed?" To say Blaine was sceptical would be an understatement, and it was a sentiment that Carbuncle himself shared with the peculiar woman. Why would someone who was so patronising put her money, her jewels, on them? It was a curveball, and a steep one at that.

"Indeed, I do." With that said, she stood from her seat, waving behind her in a nonchalant goodbye. She had left just as abruptly, leaving like the wind, leaving the duo stupefied.

"…Did you notice that she didn't say anything as to why she was here?" Carbuncle mentioned, as soon as the retreating figure had faded from view. "It was almost like she was teasing us with her presence." And to Carbuncle, it really did. Angel was one of those people that you just couldn't figure out, resembling the capricious spirit that she uses most.

"...I was forced here to be taunted." Dead-pan, Blaine to made to leave, but not before throwing behind her a swift note to meet her in front of the 'place'. The 'place' must be her way of telling him to meet near their target, and he was left to his thoughts once more.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Angel was still around, _somewhere_, watching their every movement. She was there to make sure that the mission was completed, even if they themselves failed. It was smart, that way they take no risks.

"Umm…Sir?" His attention was caught by the waiter, who returned looking rather sheepish. "Are you ready to pay the bill yet?"

_Oh yeah…the bill. _

_Shit._

"…One more drink please." If he was going to pay, then he might as well at least attempt to get hammered.

_Wait, I can't get hammered…I need to assault that Dark Guild…_ Damning the guild for his inability to get drunk, he came to the revelation that he was, indeed, screwed.

Where's Cobra when you need him? At least then he would have _something _to insult.

_I can't believe this but... 'hashtag-darkguildissues'._

* * *

"Wake up in the morning feeling like …" He couldn't help himself. The song itself was too addicting, and he just _had _to sing along. "…Got my glasses I'm out the door I'm gonna hit the city." Even if he did hate himself just a tiny bit for liking the song, when it came on, it seemed to trigger something within him, and he just sings along – despite the embarrassment involved.

_Oh wow, I'm relating to a 'Kezza' song…_

Night had fallen, its bright emptiness blanketing the Earth in its emptiness. Oddly, the stars were absent, leaving the sky a blank canvas just ready to be painted, and the world itself seemed to be asleep. The only noise was that of the song he was listening to, the popular city oddly silent as he travelled towards the edge.

_Before I leave, brush my teeth… _He may be listening to music, but that didn't mean he couldn't sense something was up. He may be lingering on the outskirts but the only sound around shouldn't be from his music device (it was embarrassing, but he had completely forgotten what they were called), so something must be wrong. Sure, he may just be paranoid, but there must be something else there.

No-one is paranoid – at least not without a solid reason.

_With a bottle of jack…_ He should be near the meeting point now. The moss ensconcing the somewhat-but-not-really derelict buildings started to thin, showing just how far away from the centre he truly was. Every step forward, every beat of the song, and he could _feel _his blood pumping. He was scared, scared-scared-_scared _for what he was about to do, afraid of the consequences of his actions, but he was also _excited_, in some strange perverse way.

His blood was screaming, and who was he to ignore his own nature?

_Don't stop… _Carbuncle was almost there. It wasn't far now, his boots kicking up dust as he moved, serenely making his way down an inconspicuous path. If you were to walk in the direction of Narcisca you wouldn't have been able to see it – or so he assumes, but he could be making excuses to save his ego – leaving it only visible if you were walking outwards. He couldn't help but to respect them being at least logical, as he could safely say not many people _walk _away from the luscious city.

"So here we are…" Twisting, he faced the stoical Blaine, who was hesitantly stepping forward. He could see that, she too, was slightly unnerved with the prospect of murder. "Do you think that she is watching us, even now?" Carbuncle could only presume that she was referring to their silent watcher, Angel.

"Angel?" Seeing her nod, Carbuncle didn't even have to give an affirmative – his heavy sigh said it all. "Should we?"

"After you."

"Ladies first."

"Where's the chivalry?"

Reluctant, he nodded his acceptance, walking fully up the pathway. It was strange. Usually, in situations like these, it tends to rain. It was almost disconcerting to find that it wasn't, the absence of the soft staccato making him agitated.

Emerald found ochre clay. Standing imperious, it was their target. Surrounded by crumbling brick, I stood out – the structure looking relatively pristine in comparison. The bricks looked safe, as if they wouldn't crumble or collapse at any moment, with the windows free of blemishes. It looked well kept, and not at all like a Dark Guild.

It almost made him think that they had the wrong place.

"They're a bit...how do I say this politely…" He was at a loss for words, unable to define them. "They are obviously slobs. Just look at that mess." He finally found something to judge them on, other than they're raging stupidity and their anticlimactic base.

"How curious…so this is what Dark Guilds are like?" She was left ignored as Carbuncle strode toward the door, the blonde-haired girl's question hanging in the air. He lightly tapped on the door, checking to see how sturdy it was.

The light touch nudged the barrier open.

"This is obviously a trap…" Warning Blaine to stay wary, he was given conformation in the form of her clutching her gauntlet, battle-ready. "Step back for a second, I'm going to use a spell to help u through." Speaking his thoughts out loud, he didn't want to set the girl off by accident with an unannounced spell.

"I think this is the first time I've seen you cast a spell…" At least she was eager.

"Crystal Augment: Ruby Shell." A brilliant pink circle shimmered into existence above the duo (it had been a while since he had seen it, being present only when he augmented others), raining down crimson glitter on the pair.

"What's thi-" She was cut off by a vibrant red crystal jutted from her clothes. It was almost co-ordinated in how random they spawned, the ruby structures lancing off her body in various directions. They varied in size, but they all had one primary function, that they completed brilliantly.

"Don't get lost in this place. You might not survive." With that ominous warning, he opened the door and stepped through. Out of anything he could have expected, this wasn't it.

It was grotesque.

His ruby-clad foot landed awkwardly in a puddle of unknown liquid (unknown as he _refused _to look down), sending droplet of the substance everywhere from the force behind it. The walls, a once non-descript crème, had become a scarlet tapestry – sanguine stains marring the surface. Careful not to touch the floor, he made small baby steps forward, unwilling to walk into a potential trap. It was obvious that 'Scarlet Nail' was no more, but what had caused it remained a mystery. The only way to truly know is to head further in, deep into the bowels of the nondescript building.

It couldn't have been Kagero – this was not his kind of technique. He wasn't this bloody.

"Watch your step." The warning came too late, as he heard the splash behind him and the mumbled expletive from the female. Laughing loudly, he wasn't able to dodge the blow to the back of the head, but he felt it was totally worth it.

It knocked his headphones out however, unleashing the music of 'Kezza' to the ruins.

He could _hear _how unimpressed she was – Blaine didn't even have to say anything.

"You had them in all along, even when we were talking." The agent didn't need to turn around to know she had her eyebrow raised. "How in the name of Chronos did you manage that?" It was nice to have a distraction in the gloom, and they seized it without a second thought.

_With my hands up… _"Magic." It didn't take a genius to figure out that she wasn't amused, if the patronising scoff was anything to go by. How a scoff could be patronising was a mystery, but Blaine made it work. "And I had it low enough to hear you, don't worry about that." Despite the jovial atmosphere, neither of the two of them missed the large paw prints in the sanguine carpet, a sign of danger if Carbuncle had ever seen one.

"…If you say so. I would have thought it to be polite to listen to people, and not to 'musik'." She seemed to stress 'music' as if it was unfamiliar, and she had just come into contact with it for the first time. "Guess like times have really changed."

"Now that I think about it, why do you speak the way that you do?" It was an enigma that Carbuncle couldn't figure out, and it had gotten to the point that he just couldn't help himself anymore. The time was nigh for some answers, even if this wasn't exactly the best place for the so-called 'Spanish Inquisition'.

_I still don't know where that quote came from…it must be from ancient Fiore or something._

"You want answers?" He almost winced at how pointed that statement was. "You, of all people, want answers?" She scoffed, ice-cold amusement glittering in her eyes, as if she found the question laughable. "I don't exactly feel as if you can demand answers, considering all those _secrets _of yours." Moving in front of him, she carried on moving, ignoring the question entirely.

_Tonight, I'm a fight, till we see the sunlight. _"I see your point." Begrudgingly, he had to accept the fact that until he told her something, then she wouldn't tell him a thing. From that point on, a foreign silence invaded, and Carbuncle didn't know what to do with himself. He wasn't used to situations like this, situations where there was such a pressing silence. Speeding up, he kept pace with Blaine, walking side by side with the woman as they explored the building.

"…What is wrong with humans?"

They both stood, stock-still, as they heard the voice reverberate from within the base. The base that they were inside was almost labyrinthine, trailing deep underground. Turning the music off, the music trailing off, the two set off in a manic sprint – running head on towards the source.

"I should feel offended by how you judge us so."

…_That's the voice of Iname. _The metal behind the voice revealing to him just who he was, all he could hope for was that they hadn't heard the lyrics to 'Kezza'. That wouldn't be fun at all, as they needed all the advantages they could get – surprise would be key, as he doubted there ability to survive if they didn't have that on their side.

"They seem distracted." Comprehending, he nudged back trying to create as little sound as possible. The conversation was getting louder, more snippets becoming clear the closer they got. Scarlet rain fell as they ran, the liquid upheaved as they searched for the sound – leading them to a peculiar looking door. "How should we get in?" They were going to make noise; there was no doubt about that. The question was how to decrease it.

…_I so hate myself for saying this but…Yolo._ Gripping the bloody knob tightly, he struggled to get a grip on the slippery surface, before managing it. Twisting, he slowly pushed the door ajar, creeping inside the room. The incredibly spacious, yet _empty_ room.

_How did they fit that in here? _It may have been empty, but it was still spacious – drawing attention to the two solitary figures conversing in the centre. Like the ancient gladiators of yore, they resembled two combatants, ready to fight to the death.

Barring blood-stains (from the trip down, he suspects), there was little marring Kagero – his clothes unruffled and lifeless orbs unstressed. Ironically, the same could be said for the _man-demon-fear-fear-fear _in front of him. Taking in his features, he was swept up in overwhelming fear, entrenching him in its terrifying embrace. Silver, wild (almost _feral)_ hair framed a cold face, which was hidden behind an onyx bandanna. Metallic eyes that were almost frozen over were nearly as empty as the man he faced.

White skinny jeans that were blood-stained, shoes - Carbuncle realised they were vans soon enough, but it was hidden behind the stains – adorned with a blade each, resembling the talons of a predator, and a deep black T-shirt was all he wore. Curiously, he wore a red jewelled amulet that made his own magic coil in disgust. It had seen horrific things, things that would taint those that would hear its story.

"Humans are disgusting." The man's voice was rough, gravelly from disuse. "Why don't you burn in your fear?" A spiralling ray of _fear _was fired, only to be deflected by the Creation Mage's mirror spell.

Sending it towards the two spectators.

There was nowhere for them to go, and he didn't think his magic would be able to block a spell like that. It could be the end for him, for them.

His eye bulged.

Her grip tightened.

Time stopped.

* * *

**_Chapter 9, Fin~_**

**_Welp, I'm gonna cut this A/N slightly short, cause my bed is calling me and I am not exactly feeling the best in the world, so I might just sleep. Even if it is, like, 17:25 when I type this (in the U.K~)_**

**_So I'm gonna post up the OCs here now:_**

**_And Styles, I finally introduced your OC. Even if he is nameless at the minute :D_**

_**OC Table:**_

_**Ocs introduced:**_

**_The Lazy Bitch's:_** **_Zimi_**

**_QueenKazza's: Jayne_**

**_Hikari-Angel143's: Eevee_**

**_motordog's: Blaine_**

**_Arcobaleno-Lover's: 'Arrow'_**

**_Cute-Kawaii-Girl's: Hale_**

_**Hollow-Kyuubi's: Iname Kagero**_

_**Apostle of Regeneration's: ? - (Spoilers~ And 'cause there'll be more interaction in Sapphire~)**_

_**LyricsgirlR5's: Jessica**_

_**Saiyan-Styles: ? (Name not yet revealed~)**_

_**Oc's mentioned:**_

**_Arcobaleno-l_****_over's: Rydia_**

**_LyricsgirlR5's: _****_Nikita_**

**_Now that that is done - THANK YOU SO MUCH - Your reviews are awesome! We are at 53 reviews/ 18 Follows and 9 favourites~ I hope you liked this one enough to continue reviewing~_**

**_So until next time,_**

**_HalcyonNight._**

**_P.S: Remember - Any questions, just drop me a Pm and I'll answer them to the best of my ability - even if it is something as simple as what a word means or to clarify what happened in a particular bit, or even just to say hi :D_**


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